Internet of things communication method, network side device, and internet of things terminal

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure discloses an Internet of Things communication method. In the present disclosure, a downlink data frame sent by the network side device includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and a data field; a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in a frequency domain includes at least one resource unit RU; and the RU is used to send a downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal, where the downlink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, the IoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control information of the downlink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmit downlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal. According to the present disclosure, a network side device in a WLAN can schedule an IoT terminal, thereby reducing a conflict risk in an IoT communication process.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/909,771, filed on Mar. 1, 2018, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/CN2016/088231, filed on Jul. 1, 2016,which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201510559591.0,filed on Sep. 2, 2015. All of the afore-mentioned patent applicationsare hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to the field of communicationstechnologies, and in particular, to an Internet of Things communicationmethod, a network side device, and an Internet of Things terminal.

BACKGROUND

As a network of communication between a person and an object andcommunication between objects, Internet of Things (IoT) is an importantpart of new-generation information technologies.

In the IoT, to obtain information from the physical world or control anobject in the physical world, massive IoT terminals need to be widelydeployed. The IoT terminals are various devices that have sensing,computing, execution, and communication capabilities. Further,information transmission, information coordination, and informationprocessing are implemented by using a network.

The extensive and wide deployment of IoT terminals requires relativelylow costs, relatively low complexity, and extremely low powerconsumption of an IoT terminal. To reduce power consumption and costs,an IoT terminal usually uses a channel bandwidth of only 1 to 2 MHz forcommunication, which is much less than a channel bandwidth used by awireless local area network (WLAN) device such as a station (STA). WLANstandards include gradually evolved releases such as 802.11a. 802.11n,and 802.11ac. Currently, the IEEE 802.11 standards organization hasstarted standardization work of a new-generation WLAN standard 802.11ax,which is referred to as a high efficiency wireless local area network(HEW). A WLAN device supporting 802.11ax uses a channel bandwidth of atleast 20 MHz. Therefore, generally, an IoT terminal cannot directlyreceive or send a WLAN signal, that is, a WLAN network side device suchas an access point (AP) cannot schedule or coordinate IoT communication.Consequently, in a current communications network, a conflict inevitablyoccurs between IoT terminals and between an IoT terminal and a WLANdevice.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an IoT communicationmethod, a network side device, and an IoT terminal, so that the IoTterminal can be scheduled by the network side device in an IoTcommunication process, to reduce a conflict risk in an IoT communicationtransmission process.

According to a first aspect, an Internet of Things IoT communicationmethod is provided, including:

determining, by a network side device, a terminal device that performsdownlink data transmission, where the terminal device includes an IoTterminal; and

sending, by the network side device, a downlink data frame, where

the downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a high efficiencywireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field;

a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in afrequency domain includes at least one resource unit RU; and

the RU is used to send a downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal, wherethe downlink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field,the IoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control informationof the downlink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmitdownlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first implementation, theterminal device further includes a station STA;

the subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in thefrequency domain further includes at least one other RU different fromthe RU; and

the at least one other RU is used to transmit downlink data between thenetwork side device and the STA.

With reference to the first aspect or the first implementation of thefirst aspect, in a second implementation, the network side devicespecifically sends the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal by usingthe RU in the following manner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard sub carriers;

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in a middle location of the RUas direct current subcarriers; and

sending the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal by using asubcarrier, included in the RU, other than the guard subcarrier and thedirect current subcarrier.

With reference to the second implementation of the first aspect, in athird implementation, the data field included in the downlink data frameis specifically generated in the following manner:

performing, by the network side device, coding and modulation on thedownlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal toobtain an IoT downlink modulation symbol, and mapping the IoT downlinkmodulation symbol to a subcarrier included in the at least one RU;

performing, by the network side device, coding and modulation on thedownlink data between the network side device and the STA to obtain awireless local area network WLAN downlink modulation symbol, and mappingthe WLAN downlink modulation symbol to a subcarrier included in the atleast one other RU; and

performing, by the network side device, inverse fast Fouriertransformation IFFT on a frequency domain signal that includes asubcarrier corresponding to the at least one RU and a subcarriercorresponding to the at least one other RU, and adding a cyclic prefixto generate a downlink baseband signal for IoT and WLAN hybridtransmission.

With reference to the first aspect or the first implementation of thefirst aspect, in a fourth implementation, the network side devicespecifically sends the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal by usingthe RU in the following manner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard subcarriers; and

sending the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal in a single carriermanner on a frequency band corresponding to a subcarrier, included inthe RU, other than the guard subcarrier.

With reference to the fourth implementation of the first aspect, in afifth implementation, the data field included in the downlink data frameis specifically generated in the following manner:

performing, by the network side device, coding and modulation on thedownlink data between the network side device and the STA to obtain awireless local area network WLAN downlink modulation symbol, and mappingthe WLAN downlink modulation symbol to a subcarrier included in the atleast one other RU;

performing, by the network side device, inverse fast Fouriertransformation IFFT on a frequency domain signal that includes asubcarrier corresponding to the at least one other RU, and adding acyclic prefix CP to generate a WLAN downlink baseband signal;

performing, by the network side device, coding and modulation on thedownlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal, andadding a CP to generate an IoT downlink single carrier symbol;

performing, by the network side device, waveform shaping filtering onthe IoT downlink single carrier symbol to obtain an IoT downlinkbaseband signal;

performing, by the network side device, frequency translation on the IoTdownlink baseband signal to obtain an IoT downlink band-pass signal,where a center frequency of the IoT downlink band-pass signal is f_(r),and f_(r) is a frequency difference between a zero frequency and acenter frequency of an RU that is used to send a downlink IoT frame; and

adding, by the network side device, the IoT downlink band-pass signaland the WLAN downlink baseband signal to obtain a downlink basebandsignal for IoT and WLAN hybrid transmission.

With reference to the fifth implementation of the first aspect, in asixth implementation, the IoT downlink single carrier symbol and an OFDMsymbol of the WLAN downlink baseband signal use CPs of a same length,and a length of the IoT downlink single carrier symbol is the same as alength of the OFDM symbol of the WLAN downlink baseband signal.

With reference to the fifth implementation or the sixth implementationof the first aspect, in a seventh implementation, the IoT downlinksingle carrier symbol includes K modulation symbols, and a period ofeach modulation symbol is T₁=T₀/K; where

K is a positive integer that does not exceed a quantity of subcarriersincluded in the RU that is used to send a downlink IoT frame, T₁ is theperiod of each modulation symbol, and T₀ is the length of the OFDMsymbol of the WLAN downlink baseband signal.

With reference to the first aspect or any implementation of the firstaspect, in an eighth implementation, the RU that is used to send adownlink IoT frame includes at least one basic RU, and the methodfurther includes:

sending, by the network side device, channel indication information inthe basic RU, where

the channel indication information is used to indicate that the IoTterminal is handed over from the basic RU to an RU that is used to senda downlink IoT frame other than the basic RU.

With reference to the first aspect or any implementation of the firstaspect, in a ninth implementation, the physical layer controlinformation that is of the downlink IoT frame and that is transmitted bythe IoT preamble includes one or any combination of the followingsequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain timingsynchronization and frequency synchronization of the downlink IoT frame;or

a training sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the downlink IoT frame.

With reference to the first aspect or any implementation of the firstaspect, in a tenth implementation, the IoT data field includes at leastone subframe; and

the IoT data field includes downlink data of at least two IoT terminals;where

downlink data of each IoT terminal occupies at least one subframe; or

downlink data of each IoT terminal occupies at least one timeslot of atleast one subframe; or

downlink data of each IoT terminal occupies at least one subframe and atleast one timeslot of the at least one subframe.

According to a second aspect, an Internet of Things IoT communicationmethod is provided, including:

obtaining, by an IoT terminal, a downlink IoT frame from a downlinkreceived signal, where the downlink received signal includes a downlinkdata frame sent by a network side device;

and the downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a highefficiency wireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field, asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in afrequency domain includes at least one resource unit RU, the at leastone RU is used to send a downlink IoT frame, the downlink IoT frameincludes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, the IoT preamble is usedto transmit physical layer control information of the downlink IoTframe, and the IoT data field is used to transmit downlink data betweenthe network side device and the IoT terminal; and

processing, by the IoT terminal, the downlink IoT frame to obtain thedownlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first implementation, abandwidth of a receive channel of the IoT terminal does not exceed abandwidth of the RU; and

a carrier frequency used by the receive channel of the IoT terminal isf₀+f_(r), where f₀ is a carrier frequency of the downlink IoT frame, andf_(r) is a frequency difference between a center frequency of the RU anda zero frequency.

With reference to the second aspect or the first implementation of thesecond aspect, in a second implementation, the processing, by the IoTterminal, the downlink IoT frame to obtain the downlink data between thenetwork side device and the IoT terminal includes:

removing, by the IoT terminal, a cyclic prefix CP from each orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing OFDM symbol of the downlink IoT frame,and performing upsampling and fast Fourier transformation FFT to obtainan IoT modulation signal that is mapped to a subcarrier included in theRU; and

performing, by the IoT terminal, demodulation and decoding on the IoTmodulation signal to obtain the downlink data between the network sidedevice and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the second aspect or the first implementation of thesecond aspect, in a third implementation, the processing, by the IoTterminal, the downlink IoT frame to obtain the downlink data between thenetwork side device and the IoT terminal includes:

removing, by the IoT terminal, a cyclic prefix CP from each singlecarrier symbol of the downlink IoT frame, and performing frequencydomain equalization to obtain an IoT modulation signal that is mapped toa frequency band corresponding to the RU; and

performing, by the IoT terminal, demodulation and decoding on the IoTmodulation signal to obtain the downlink data between the network sidedevice and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the second aspect or any implementation of the secondaspect, in a fourth implementation, the physical layer controlinformation that is of the downlink IoT frame and that is transmitted bythe IoT preamble includes one or any combination of the followingsequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain timingsynchronization and frequency synchronization of the downlink IoT frame;or

a training sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the downlink IoT frame.

According to a third aspect, an Internet of Things IoT communicationmethod is provided, including:

receiving, by an IoT terminal, an uplink transmission scheduling requestsent by a network side device, where

the uplink transmission scheduling request is used to schedule the IoTterminal to send an uplink IoT frame; and

the uplink IoT frame is located in a data field of an uplink data frame,a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of theuplink data frame in a frequency domain includes at least one resourceunit RU, and the at least one RU is used to send the uplink IoT frame;and

sending, by the IoT terminal, the uplink IoT frame according to theuplink transmission scheduling request, where

the uplink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, theIoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control information ofthe uplink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmit uplinkdata between the network side device and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first implementation, the IoTterminal specifically sends the uplink IoT frame in the followingmanner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard sub carriers;

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in a middle location of the RUas direct current subcarriers; and

sending the uplink IoT frame to the network side device on a subcarrier,included in the RU, other than the guard subcarrier and the directcurrent subcarrier.

With reference to the first implementation of the third aspect, in asecond implementation, the IoT terminal specifically sends the uplinkIoT frame by using the RU in the following manner:

performing, by the IoT terminal, coding and modulation on the uplinkdata between the network side device and the IoT terminal to obtain anIoT uplink modulation symbol, and mapping the IoT uplink modulationsymbol to a subcarrier included in the RU;

performing, by the IoT terminal, inverse fast Fourier transformationIFFT and downsampling on a frequency domain signal that includes asubcarrier corresponding to the RU, and adding a cyclic prefix to obtaina first IoT uplink baseband signal; and

sending the first IoT uplink baseband signal by using an uplink transmitchannel, where

a carrier frequency of the uplink transmit channel is f₀+f_(r), where f₀is a carrier frequency of a channel for transmitting the uplink dataframe in which the RU is located, and f_(r) is a frequency differencebetween a center frequency of the second RU and a zero frequency.

With reference to the third aspect, in a third implementation, the IoTterminal specifically sends the uplink IoT frame in the followingmanner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard subcarriers; and

sending the uplink IoT frame to the network side device in a singlecarrier manner on a frequency band corresponding to a subcarrier,included in the second RU, other than the guard subcarrier.

With reference to the third implementation of the third aspect, in afourth implementation, the IoT terminal specifically sends the uplinkIoT frame in a single carrier manner in the following manner:

performing, by the IoT terminal, coding and modulation on the uplinkdata between the network side device and the IoT terminal, and adding acyclic prefix CP to generate an IoT uplink single carrier symbol;

performing, by the IoT terminal, waveform shaping filtering on the IoTuplink single carrier symbol to obtain a second IoT uplink basebandsignal; and

sending, by the IoT terminal, the second IoT uplink baseband signal byusing an uplink transmit channel, where

a carrier frequency of the uplink transmit channel is f₀+f_(r), where f₀is a carrier frequency of a channel for transmitting the uplink dataframe in which the RU is located, and f_(r) is a frequency differencebetween a center frequency of the RU and a zero frequency.

With reference to the fourth implementation of the third aspect, in afifth implementation, the IoT uplink single carrier symbol and an OFDMsymbol of a WLAN uplink baseband signal sent by the STA use CPs of asame length, and a length of the IoT uplink single carrier symbol is thesame as a length of the OFDM symbol of the WLAN uplink baseband signalsent by the STA.

With reference to the fourth implementation or the fifth implementationof the third aspect, in a sixth implementation, the IoT uplink singlecarrier symbol includes K modulation symbols, and a period of eachmodulation symbol is T₁=T₀/K; where

K is a positive integer that does not exceed a quantity of subcarriersincluded in the RU, T₁ is the period of each modulation symbol, and T₀is the length of the OFDM symbol of the WLAN uplink baseband signal sentby the STA.

With reference to the third aspect or any implementation of the thirdaspect, in a seventh implementation, the physical layer controlinformation that is of the uplink IoT frame and that is transmitted bythe IoT preamble includes one or any combination of the followingsequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the network side device to obtaintiming synchronization and frequency synchronization of the uplink IoTframe; or

a training sequence used by the network side device to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the uplink IoT frame.

With reference to the third aspect or any implementation of the thirdaspect, in an eighth implementation, the uplink IoT frame includesuplink IoT subframes sent by at least two IoT terminals; and

the uplink IoT subframe sent by each IoT terminal includes an IoTpreamble and an IoT data field.

With reference to the third aspect or any implementation of the thirdaspect, in a ninth implementation, the uplink transmission schedulingrequest is sent by using a downlink data frame sent by the network sidedevice; and

the downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a high efficiencywireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field, and asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of thedownlink data frame in the frequency domain includes at least one RUthat is used to send the uplink transmission scheduling request.

According to a fourth aspect, an Internet of Things IoT communicationmethod is provided, including:

sending, by a network side device, an uplink transmission schedulingrequest to an IoT terminal, where the uplink transmission schedulingrequest is used to schedule the IoT terminal to send an uplink IoTframe; and

obtaining, by the network side device, the uplink IoT frame sent by theIoT terminal according to the uplink transmission scheduling request,where

the uplink IoT frame is located in a data field of an uplink data frame,a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of theuplink data frame in a frequency domain includes at least one resourceunit RU, and the at least one RU is used to send the uplink IoT frame;and

the uplink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, theIoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control information ofthe uplink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmit uplinkdata between the network side device and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first implementation, thenetwork side device specifically receives, in the following manner, theuplink IoT frame sent by the IoT terminal according to the uplinktransmission scheduling request:

obtaining, by the network side device, an uplink received signal, wherethe uplink received signal includes the uplink IoT frame sent by the IoTterminal;

removing, by the network side device, a cyclic prefix CP from the uplinkreceived signal, and performing fast Fourier transformation FFT toobtain a frequency domain received signal;

obtaining, by the network side device, a signal on a subcarriercorresponding to the RU from the frequency domain received signal toobtain an IoT frequency domain signal; and

performing, by the network side device, frequency domain equalization,inverse fast Fourier transformation IFFT, and demodulation and decodingon the IoT frequency domain signal to obtain the uplink data between thenetwork side device and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first implementation of thefourth aspect, in a second implementation, the sending, by a networkside device, an uplink transmission scheduling request to an IoTterminal includes:

sending, by the network side device, the uplink transmission schedulingrequest by using a downlink data frame, where

the downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a high efficiencywireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field, and asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of thedownlink data frame in the frequency domain includes at least one RUthat is used to send the uplink transmission scheduling request.

With reference to the fourth aspect or any implementation of the fourthaspect, in a third implementation, the physical layer controlinformation that is of the uplink IoT frame and that is transmitted bythe IoT preamble includes one or any combination of the followingsequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the network side device to obtaintiming synchronization and frequency synchronization of the uplink IoTframe; or

a training sequence used by the network side device to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the uplink IoT frame.

According to a fifth aspect, a network side device is provided,including:

a determining unit, configured to determine a terminal device thatperforms downlink data transmission, where the terminal device includesan IoT terminal; and

a sending unit, configured to send a downlink data frame, where

the downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a high efficiencywireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field;

a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in afrequency domain includes at least one resource unit RU; and

the RU is used to send a downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal, wherethe downlink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field,the IoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control informationof the downlink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmitdownlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first implementation, theterminal device further includes a station STA;

the subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in thefrequency domain further includes at least one other RU different fromthe RU; and

the at least one other RU is used to transmit downlink data between thenetwork side device and the STA.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first implementation of thefifth aspect, in a second implementation, the sending unit specificallysends the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal by using the RU in thefollowing manner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard sub carriers;

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in a middle location of the RUas direct current subcarriers; and

sending the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal by using asubcarrier, included in the RU, other than the guard subcarrier and thedirect current subcarrier.

With reference to the second implementation of the fifth aspect, in athird implementation, the sending unit specifically generates the datafield included in the downlink data frame in the following manner:

performing coding and modulation on the downlink data between thenetwork side device and the IoT terminal to obtain an IoT downlinkmodulation symbol, and mapping the IoT downlink modulation symbol to asubcarrier included in the at least one RU;

performing coding and modulation on the downlink data between thenetwork side device and the STA to obtain a wireless local area networkWLAN downlink modulation symbol, and mapping the WLAN downlinkmodulation symbol to a subcarrier included in the at least one other RU;and

performing inverse fast Fourier transformation IFFT on a frequencydomain signal that includes a subcarrier corresponding to the at leastone RU and a subcarrier corresponding to the at least one other RU, andadding a cyclic prefix to generate a downlink baseband signal for IoTand WLAN hybrid transmission.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first implementation of thefifth aspect, in a fourth implementation, the sending unit specificallysends the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal by using the RU in thefollowing manner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard subcarriers; and

sending the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal in a single carriermanner on a frequency band corresponding to a subcarrier, included inthe RU, other than the guard subcarrier.

With reference to the fourth implementation of the fifth aspect, in afifth implementation, the sending unit specifically generates the datafield included in the downlink data frame in the following manner:

performing coding and modulation on the downlink data between thenetwork side device and the STA to obtain a wireless local area networkWLAN downlink modulation symbol, and mapping the WLAN downlinkmodulation symbol to a subcarrier included in the at least one other RU;

performing inverse fast Fourier transformation IFFT on a frequencydomain signal that includes a subcarrier corresponding to the at leastone other RU, and adding a cyclic prefix CP to generate a WLAN downlinkbaseband signal;

performing coding and modulation on the downlink data between thenetwork side device and the IoT terminal, and adding a CP to generate anIoT downlink single carrier symbol;

performing waveform shaping filtering on the IoT downlink single carriersymbol to obtain an IoT downlink baseband signal;

performing frequency translation on the IoT downlink baseband signal toobtain an IoT downlink band-pass signal, where a center frequency of theIoT downlink band-pass signal is f_(r), and f_(r) is a frequencydifference between a zero frequency and a center frequency of an RU thatis used to send a downlink IoT frame; and

adding the IoT downlink band-pass signal and the WLAN downlink basebandsignal to obtain a downlink baseband signal for IoT and WLAN hybridtransmission.

With reference to the fifth implementation of the fifth aspect, in asixth implementation, the IoT downlink single carrier symbol and an OFDMsymbol of the WLAN downlink baseband signal use CPs of a same length,and a length of the IoT downlink single carrier symbol is the same as alength of the OFDM symbol of the WLAN downlink baseband signal.

With reference to the fifth implementation or the sixth implementationof the fifth aspect, in a seventh implementation, the IoT downlinksingle carrier symbol includes K modulation symbols, and a period ofeach modulation symbol is T₁=T₀/K; where

K is a positive integer that does not exceed a quantity of subcarriersincluded in the RU that is used to send a downlink IoT frame, T₁ is theperiod of each modulation symbol, and T₀ is the length of the OFDMsymbol of the WLAN downlink baseband signal.

With reference to the fifth aspect or any implementation of the fifthaspect, in an eighth implementation, the RU that is used to send adownlink IoT frame includes at least one basic RU; and

the sending unit is further configured to send channel indicationinformation in the basic RU, where

the channel indication information is used to indicate that the IoTterminal is handed over from the basic RU to an RU that is used to senda downlink IoT frame other than the basic RU.

With reference to the fifth aspect or any implementation of the fifthaspect, in a ninth implementation, the physical layer controlinformation that is of the downlink IoT frame and that is transmitted bythe IoT preamble includes one or any combination of the followingsequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain timingsynchronization and frequency synchronization of the downlink IoT frame;or

a training sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the downlink IoT frame.

With reference to the fifth aspect or any implementation of the fifthaspect, in a tenth implementation, the IoT data field includes at leastone subframe; and

the IoT data field includes downlink data of at least two IoT terminals;where

downlink data of each IoT terminal occupies at least one subframe; or

downlink data of each IoT terminal occupies at least one timeslot of atleast one subframe; or

downlink data of each IoT terminal occupies at least one subframe and atleast one timeslot of the at least one subframe.

According to a sixth aspect, an IoT terminal is provided, including:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a downlink IoT frame from adownlink received signal, where the downlink received signal includes adownlink data frame sent by a network side device; and

the downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a high efficiencywireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field, a subcarrierresource that is corresponding to the data field in a frequency domainincludes at least one resource unit RU, the at least one RU is used tosend a downlink IoT frame, the downlink IoT frame includes an IoTpreamble and an IoT data field, the IoT preamble is used to transmitphysical layer control information of the downlink IoT frame, and theIoT data field is used to transmit downlink data between the networkside device and the IoT terminal; and

a processing unit, configured to process the downlink IoT frame obtainedby the obtaining unit, to obtain the downlink data between the networkside device and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first implementation, abandwidth of a receive channel of the IoT terminal does not exceed abandwidth of the RU; and

a carrier frequency used by the receive channel of the IoT terminal isf₀+f_(r), where f₀ is a carrier frequency of the downlink IoT frame, andf_(r) is a frequency difference between a center frequency of the RU anda zero frequency.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first implementation of thesixth aspect, in a second implementation, the processing unit isspecifically configured to process the downlink IoT frame to obtain thedownlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal inthe following manner:

removing a cyclic prefix CP from each orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing OFDM symbol of the downlink IoT frame, and performingupsampling and fast Fourier transformation FFT to obtain an IoTmodulation signal that is mapped to a subcarrier included in the RU; and

performing demodulation and decoding on the IoT modulation signal toobtain the downlink data between the network side device and the IoTterminal.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first implementation of thesixth aspect, in a third implementation, the processing unit isspecifically configured to process the downlink IoT frame to obtain thedownlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal inthe following manner:

removing a cyclic prefix CP from each single carrier symbol of thedownlink IoT frame, and performing frequency domain equalization toobtain an IoT modulation signal that is mapped to a frequency bandcorresponding to the RU; and

performing demodulation and decoding on the IoT modulation signal toobtain the downlink data between the network side device and the IoTterminal.

With reference to the sixth aspect or any implementation of the sixthaspect, in a fourth implementation, the physical layer controlinformation that is of the downlink IoT frame and that is transmitted bythe IoT preamble includes one or any combination of the followingsequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain timingsynchronization and frequency synchronization of the downlink IoT frame;or

a training sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the downlink IoT frame.

According to a seventh aspect, an IoT terminal is provided, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive an uplink transmissionscheduling request sent by a network side device, where the uplinktransmission scheduling request is used to schedule the IoT terminal tosend an uplink IoT frame, the uplink IoT frame is located in a datafield of an uplink data frame, a subcarrier resource that iscorresponding to the data field of the uplink data frame in a frequencydomain includes at least one resource unit RU, and the at least one RUis used to send the uplink IoT frame; and

a sending unit, configured to send the uplink IoT frame according to theuplink transmission scheduling request received by the receiving unit,where

the uplink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, theIoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control information ofthe uplink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmit uplinkdata between the network side device and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a first implementation, thesending unit specifically sends the uplink IoT frame in the followingmanner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard sub carriers;

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in a middle location of the RUas direct current subcarriers; and

sending the uplink IoT frame to the network side device on a subcarrier,included in the RU, other than the guard subcarrier and the directcurrent subcarrier.

With reference to the first implementation of the seventh aspect, in asecond implementation, the sending unit specifically sends the uplinkIoT frame by using the RU in the following manner:

performing coding and modulation on the uplink data between the networkside device and the IoT terminal to obtain an IoT uplink modulationsymbol, and mapping the IoT uplink modulation symbol to a subcarrierincluded in the RU;

performing inverse fast Fourier transformation IFFT and downsampling ona frequency domain signal that includes a subcarrier corresponding tothe RU, and adding a cyclic prefix to obtain a first IoT uplink basebandsignal; and

sending the first IoT uplink baseband signal by using an uplink transmitchannel, where

a carrier frequency of the uplink transmit channel is f₀+f_(r), where f₀is a carrier frequency of a channel for transmitting the uplink dataframe in which the RU is located, and f_(r) is a frequency differencebetween a center frequency of the second RU and a zero frequency.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a third implementation, thesending unit specifically sends the uplink IoT frame in the followingmanner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard subcarriers; and

sending the uplink IoT frame to the network side device in a singlecarrier manner on a frequency band corresponding to a subcarrier,included in the second RU, other than the guard subcarrier.

With reference to the third implementation of the seventh aspect, in afourth implementation, the sending unit specifically sends the uplinkIoT frame in a single carrier manner in the following manner:

performing coding and modulation on the uplink data between the networkside device and the IoT terminal, and adding a cyclic prefix CP togenerate an IoT uplink single carrier symbol;

performing waveform shaping filtering on the IoT uplink single carriersymbol to obtain a second IoT uplink baseband signal; and

sending the second IoT uplink baseband signal by using an uplinktransmit channel, where

a carrier frequency of the uplink transmit channel is f₀+f_(r), where f₀is a carrier frequency of a channel for transmitting the uplink dataframe in which the RU is located, and f_(r) is a frequency differencebetween a center frequency of the RU and a zero frequency.

With reference to the fourth implementation of the seventh aspect, in afifth implementation, the IoT uplink single carrier symbol and an OFDMsymbol of a WLAN uplink baseband signal sent by the STA use CPs of asame length, and a length of the IoT uplink single carrier symbol is thesame as a length of the OFDM symbol of the WLAN uplink baseband signalsent by the STA.

With reference to the fourth implementation or the fifth implementationof the seventh aspect, in a sixth implementation, the IoT uplink singlecarrier symbol includes K modulation symbols, and a period of eachmodulation symbol is T₁=T₀/K; where

K is a positive integer that does not exceed a quantity of subcarriersincluded in the RU, T₁ is the period of each modulation symbol, and T₀is the length of the OFDM symbol of the WLAN uplink baseband signal sentby the STA.

With reference to the seventh aspect or any implementation of theseventh aspect, in a seventh implementation, the physical layer controlinformation that is of the uplink IoT frame and that is transmitted bythe IoT preamble includes one or any combination of the followingsequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the network side device to obtaintiming synchronization and frequency synchronization of the uplink IoTframe; or

a training sequence used by the network side device to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the uplink IoT frame.

With reference to the seventh aspect or any implementation of theseventh aspect, in an eighth implementation, the uplink IoT frameincludes uplink IoT subframes sent by at least two IoT terminals; and

the uplink IoT subframe sent by each IoT terminal includes an IoTpreamble and an IoT data field.

With reference to the seventh aspect or any implementation of theseventh aspect, in a ninth implementation, the uplink transmissionscheduling request is sent by using a downlink data frame sent by thenetwork side device; and

the downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a high efficiencywireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field, and asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of thedownlink data frame in the frequency domain includes at least one RUthat is used to send the uplink transmission scheduling request.

According to an eighth aspect, a network side device is provided,including:

a sending unit, configured to send an uplink transmission schedulingrequest to an IoT terminal, where the uplink transmission schedulingrequest is used to schedule the IoT terminal to send an uplink IoTframe; and

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain the uplink IoT frame sent by theIoT terminal according to the uplink transmission scheduling requestsent by the sending unit, where

the uplink IoT frame is located in a data field of an uplink data frame,a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of theuplink data frame in a frequency domain includes at least one resourceunit RU, and the at least one RU is used to send the uplink IoT frame;and

the uplink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, theIoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control information ofthe uplink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmit uplinkdata between the network side device and the IoT terminal.

With reference to the eighth aspect, in a first implementation, theobtaining unit specifically obtains, in the following manner, the uplinkIoT frame sent by the IoT terminal according to the uplink transmissionscheduling request:

obtaining an uplink received signal, where the uplink received signalincludes the uplink IoT frame sent by the IoT terminal;

removing a cyclic prefix CP from the uplink received signal, andperforming fast Fourier transformation FFT to obtain a frequency domainreceived signal;

obtaining a signal on a subcarrier corresponding to the RU from thefrequency domain received signal to obtain an IoT frequency domainsignal; and

performing frequency domain equalization, inverse fast Fouriertransformation IFFT, and demodulation and decoding on the IoT frequencydomain signal to obtain the uplink data between the network side deviceand the IoT terminal.

With reference to the eighth aspect or the first implementation of theeighth aspect, in a second implementation, the sending unit specificallysends the uplink transmission scheduling request to the IoT terminal inthe following manner:

sending the uplink transmission scheduling request by using a downlinkdata frame, where

the downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a high efficiencywireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field, and asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of thedownlink data frame in the frequency domain includes at least one RUthat is used to send the uplink transmission scheduling request.

With reference to the eighth aspect or any implementation of the eighthaspect, in a third implementation, the physical layer controlinformation that is of the uplink IoT frame and that is transmitted bythe IoT preamble includes one or any combination of the followingsequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the network side device to obtaintiming synchronization and frequency synchronization of the uplink IoTframe; or

a training sequence used by the network side device to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the uplink IoT frame.

According to the IoT communication method, the network side device, andthe IoT terminal provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure,a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to a data field of a WLANdata frame in a frequency domain includes an RU that is used to transmitdownlink data or uplink data between the network side device and the IoTterminal, and an RU that is used to transmit downlink data or uplinkdata between the network side device and the STA, so that the IoTterminal and the STA can share a data frame in a WLAN network for datasending or receiving, and further, a network side device in the WLAN canschedule the IoT terminal, thereby reducing a conflict risk in an IoTcommunication process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a WLAN network;

FIG. 2 is a packet structure of an 802.11ax physical layer data frame;

FIG. 3 is a schematic division diagram of a subcarrier resourcecorresponding to a data field of an 802.11ax data frame in a frequencydomain;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a data frame according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is an implementation flowchart of a first IoT communicationmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a downlink data frameaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a subcarrier for transmitting IoT dataaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a method for generating a data field in an OFDM manneraccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a process in which an IoT terminalobtains downlink data in an OFDM manner according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a method for generating a data field in a single carriermanner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a process in which an IoT terminalobtains downlink data in a single carrier manner according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of time division multiplexingof a downlink IoT frame according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 13 is an implementation flowchart of a second IoT communicationmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is an implementation flowchart of a third IoT communicationmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of an uplink data frameaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is another schematic structural diagram of an uplink data frameaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a physical layer frame foruplink data transmission according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 18 is another schematic structural diagram of a physical layerframe for uplink data transmission according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a process in which an uplink IoT frameis sent in an OFDM manner according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of a process in which an uplink IoT frameis sent in a single carrier manner according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of an uplink single carrier symbol and an802.11ax OFDM symbol that are of a same length according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of time division multiplexingof an uplink IoT frame according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 23 is an implementation flowchart of a fourth IoT communicationmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of a process in which a network sidedevice receives an uplink data frame according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram of a process in which a network sidedevice receives uplink data according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 26 is a schematic structural diagram of an OFDM-based IoT frameaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 27 is a schematic structural diagram of a single carrier based IoTframe according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 28 is a schematic structural diagram of a first network side deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 29 is another schematic structural diagram of a first network sidedevice according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 30 is a schematic structural diagram of a first IoT terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 31 is another schematic structural diagram of a first IoT terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 32 is a schematic structural diagram of a second IoT terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 33 is another schematic structural diagram of a second IoT terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 34 is a schematic structural diagram of a second network sidedevice according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 35 is another schematic structural diagram of a second network sidedevice according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 36 is a schematic composition diagram of a communications systemaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following clearly describes the technical solutions in theembodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

An IoT communication method provided in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be applied to a network architecture of a wireless localaccess network (WLAN) shown in FIG. 1. A WLAN network device such as anaccess point (AP) in FIG. 1 is responsible for bidirectionalcommunication with a WLAN device such as multiple stations (STAs). Thatis, the AP may send downlink data to the STA. As shown in FIG. 1, the APmay send downlink data to a STA1 and a STA2. The AP may also receiveuplink data from the STAs. As shown in FIG. 1, the AP may receive uplinkdata from a STA3.

The WLAN supports the 802.11a, 802.11n, 802.11ac, and 802.11ax standardsproposed by the IEEE 802.11 standards organization. For ease ofdescription, the following describes the embodiments of the presentdisclosure by using the 802.11ax standard supported by the WLAN as anexample. It should be noted that, 802.11ax related to the embodiments ofthe present disclosure is the WLAN. 802.11ax supports an orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technology. In OFDMA, a bandwidthchannel is divided into multiple orthogonal subcarriers in a frequencydomain, and different subcarriers are allocated to different users, soas to implement multi-user orthogonal multiplex transmission.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, an IoT terminal and a STAcan perform frequency division multiplexing on a subcarrier resourcecorresponding to an 802.11ax physical layer data frame in the frequencydomain, so as to support IoT in 802.11ax.

FIG. 2 shows a packet structure of the 802.11ax physical layer dataframe. As shown in FIG. 2, the 802.11ax physical layer data frameincludes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and a data field. The firstpart of the 802.11ax physical layer data frame is the legacy preamble,the last part is the data field, and an 802.11ax protocol-specificpreamble, that is, the HEW preamble, is located between the legacypreamble and the data field. The legacy preamble includes a legacy shorttraining field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), and alegacy signal field (L-SIG). The HEW field includes a repeated legacysignal field (RL-SIG), a high efficient signal-Afield (HE-SIG-A), a highefficient signal-B field (HE-SIG-B), a high efficient short trainingfield (HE-STF), a high efficient long training field (HE-LTF), and thelike. The data field is used for data transmission. The L-SIG, theRL-SIG, the HE-SIG-A, the HE-SIG-B, and the like are separately used totransmit different types of physical layer signaling. The L-STF, theL-LTF, the HE-STF, the HE-LTF, and the like are mainly used for timingsynchronization, frequency synchronization, automatic gain control,channel estimation, and the like.

A subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of the802.11ax physical layer data frame in the frequency domain is dividedinto at least one resource unit (RU). In an example of a 20 MHz channel,the 20 MHz channel is corresponding to 256 subcarrier resources in thefrequency domain. As shown in FIG. 3, the 256 subcarrier resources arerespectively numbered −128, −127, . . . , 126, and 127. Subcarriers in amiddle location, that is, a subcarrier −1, a subcarrier 0, and asubcarrier 1, are referred to as direct current subcarriers. Because thethree subcarriers are easily affected by direct current offset in atransceiver system, the three subcarriers are not used for datatransmission. Subcarriers in two edge locations, that is, left-side sixsubcarriers that are numbered from −128 to −123 and right-side fivesubcarriers that are numbered from 123 to 127, are referred to as guardsubcarriers. The guard subcarriers are used to reduce out-of-bandleakage of a transmitted signal, so as to avoid interference to anadjacent channel. Therefore, the guard subcarriers are not used for datatransmission either. In other words, subcarriers available for datatransmission in the 20 MHz channel are 242 subcarriers in totalincluding subcarriers numbered from −122 to −2 and subcarriers numberedfrom 2 to 122. The 242 subcarriers available for data transmission arefurther divided into RUs including different quantities of subcarriers,for example, RUs including 26, 52, 106, and 242 subcarriers. Therefore,as shown in FIG. 3, the 20 MHz channel may include a maximum of nine RUseach including 26 subcarriers, four RUs each including 52 subcarriers,two RUs each including 106 subcarriers, or one RU including 242subcarriers. Similarly, a 40 MHz channel may include a maximum of 18 RUseach including 26 subcarriers, eight RUs each including 52 subcarriers,four RUs each including 106 subcarriers, two RUs each including 242subcarriers, or one RU including 484 subcarriers. An 80 MHz channel mayinclude a maximum of 37 RUs each including 26 subcarriers, 16 RUs eachincluding 52 subcarriers, eight RUs each including 106 subcarriers, fourRUs each including 242 subcarriers, two RUs each including 484subcarriers, or one RU including 996 subcarriers.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the IoT terminal and theSTA perform frequency division multiplexing on the subcarrier resourcethat is corresponding to the data field of the 802.11ax physical layerdata frame in the frequency domain. In the embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the datafield of the 802.11ax physical layer data frame in the frequency domainincludes an IoT-RU and a non-IoT-RU. The IoT-RU is used to transmitdownlink data or uplink data between a network side device and the IoTterminal. The non-IoT-RU is used to transmit downlink data or uplinkdata between the network side device and the STA.

Further, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the legacypreamble and the HEW preamble included in the 802.11ax physical layerdata frame are not used for frequency division multiplexing in IoTcommunication, that is, the legacy preamble and the HEW preamble arestill used for communication between the network side device and theSTA.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic structural diagram of a data frame for datatransmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherethe IoT terminal and the STA perform multiplexing on the subcarrierresource that is corresponding to the data field of the 802.11axphysical layer data frame in the frequency domain, so as to perform thedata transmission. In FIG. 4, the IoT-RU is used to transmit downlinkdata or uplink data between the AP and the IoT terminal, and thenon-IoT-RU is used to transmit downlink data or uplink data between theAP and the STA.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a structure of the dataframe in FIG. 4 is used for IoT communication, so as to implementcommunication between the IoT terminal and the network side device in802.11ax. That is, the network side device can schedule and coordinateIoT communication, thereby avoiding a conflict between IoT terminals anda conflict between an IoT terminal and a WLAN device.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the following specificallydescribes how to implement communication between the IoT terminal andthe network side device in 802.11ax.

FIG. 5 is an implementation flowchart of a first IoT communicationmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The methodin FIG. 5 is executed by a network side device, and the network sidedevice may be, for example, an AP. This is not limited in thisembodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5, theimplementation flowchart of the first IoT communication method providedin this embodiment of the present disclosure includes the followingsteps.

S101: The network side device determines a terminal device that performsdownlink data transmission.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, different from the priorart in which the network side device determines a STA supporting802.11ax as the terminal device that performs downlink datatransmission, the network side device in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure may further determine an IoT terminal as the terminal devicethat performs downlink data transmission. That is, the terminal devicethat performs downlink data transmission determined by the network sidedevice may be the STA supporting 802.11ax or the IoT terminal. In otherwords, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the determinedterminal device that performs downlink data transmission may include theSTA supporting 802.11ax and the IoT terminal, or may include only theIoT terminal.

It should be noted that, the downlink data transmission in thisembodiment of the present disclosure may be a communication process inwhich the network side device sends downlink data, and the terminaldevice receives the downlink data.

S102: The network side device sends a downlink data frame.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, after determining theterminal device that performs downlink data transmission, the networkside device may send the downlink data frame.

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of the downlink data framerelated to this embodiment of the present disclosure. The downlink dataframe shown in FIG. 6 includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and adata field. The legacy preamble shown in FIG. 6 includes fields such asthe L-STF, the L-LTF, and the L-SIG shown in FIG. 2, and the HEWpreamble shown in FIG. 6 includes fields such as the RL-SIG, theHE-SIG-A, the HE-SIG-B, the HE-STF, and the HE-LTF shown in FIG. 2. Thatis, the legacy preamble and the HEW preamble included in the downlinkdata frame related to this embodiment of the present disclosure havesame functions and same structures as the legacy preamble and the HEWpreamble in 802.11ax, and both are used for communication between thenetwork side device and the STA.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the data field included inthe downlink data frame shown in FIG. 6 is different from the data fieldof the 802.11ax data frame structure shown in FIG. 2. In this embodimentof the present disclosure, a subcarrier resource that is correspondingto the data field of the downlink data frame shown in FIG. 6 in afrequency domain includes at least one RU that is used to send adownlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the downlink IoT frameincludes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, the IoT preamble is usedto transmit physical layer control information of the downlink IoTframe, and the IoT data field is used to transmit downlink data betweenthe network side device and the IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, if the terminal devicedetermined by the network side device includes the STA, the subcarrierresource that is corresponding to the data field in the frequency domainfurther includes at least one other RU different from the RU that isused to transmit an IoT downlink data frame, and the at least one otherRU is used to transmit downlink data between the network side device andthe STA.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, for ease of description,the RU that is used to transmit the IoT downlink data frame is referredto as a first RU, and the RU that is used to transmit the downlink databetween the network side device and the STA is referred to as a secondRU. In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the first RU isequivalent to the IoT-RU in FIG. 4 and is used to send the downlink IoTframe to the IoT terminal. The second RU is equivalent to the non-IoT-RUin FIG. 4 and is used to send the downlink data between the network sidedevice and the STA to the STA.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the downlink IoT framesent by using the first RU shown in FIG. 6 includes an IoT preamble andan IoT data field, the IoT preamble is used to transmit the physicallayer control information of the downlink IoT frame, and the IoT datafield is used to transmit the downlink data between the network sidedevice and the IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the physical layer controlinformation that is of the downlink IoT frame and that is transmitted bythe IoT preamble includes one or any combination of the followingsequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain timingsynchronization and frequency synchronization of the downlink IoT frame;or

a training sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the downlink IoT frame.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the downlink IoT frame issent in the first RU of the data field, so that the IoT terminal canparse a preamble part of the downlink IoT frame to obtain informationabout timing synchronization, frequency synchronization, and channelestimation performed by the IoT terminal, without a need to parse apreamble part in 802.11ax. That is, the IoT terminal does not need tosupport a high bandwidth of 20/40/80 MHz, and a narrow-band IoT terminalwith a constrained bandwidth is effectively supported, thereby meeting arequirement of low complexity and low power consumption of the IoTdevice.

According to the IoT downlink communication method provided in thisembodiment of the present disclosure, the network side device determinesthat the terminal device that performs downlink data transmissionincludes the IoT terminal, that is, the network side device may send thedownlink data to the IoT terminal, so that the network side device canschedule and coordinate the IoT terminal. Further, the legacy preambleand the HEW preamble in the downlink data frame sent on a network sidein this embodiment of the present disclosure have same structures aspreambles in 802.11ax, so that the STA can receive the legacy preambleand the HEW preamble in the downlink data frame sent on the network sidein this embodiment of the present disclosure, and can be scheduled andcoordinated by the network side device. Therefore, the STA does notcontend with the IoT terminal for a channel, thereby avoiding a conflictbetween the IoT terminal and a WLAN device such as the STA. The IoTterminal and the STA perform frequency division multiplexing on the datafield in the downlink data frame sent on the network side in thisembodiment of the present disclosure, so that the STA and the IoTterminal can share a WLAN channel resource, and do not interfere witheach other in a downlink transmission process.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the following specificallydescribes an implementation process in which the network side devicesends the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal by using the first RU.

Implementation 1: The network side device sends the downlink IoT frameto the IoT terminal by using the first RU in an OFDM manner.

The IoT device cannot directly receive a downlink received signal of ahigh bandwidth of 20 MHz in 802.11ax. Instead, the IoT device filtersout an out-of-band 802.11ax signal of the first RU in the downlinkreceived signal by using an analog filter of a receive channel, that is,the IoT device receives only an in-band IoT signal of the first RU.Therefore, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, to avoidinterference from the out-of-band 802.11ax signal of the first RU to thein-band IoT signal of the first RU, a specified quantity of subcarriersin two edge locations of the first RU are used as guard subcarriers, anda specified quantity of subcarriers in a middle location of the first RUare used as direct current subcarriers. Neither the guard subcarrier northe direct current subcarrier is used for data transmission of thedownlink IoT frame, and the downlink IoT frame is sent to the IoTterminal by using a subcarrier, included in the first RU, other than theguard subcarrier and the direct current subcarrier.

For example, when an RU including 26 subcarriers is used as the firstRU, only 16 of the 26 subcarriers are used for IoT data transmission. Asshown in FIG. 7, if the 26 subcarriers of the first RU are sequentiallynumbered −13, −12, . . . , 11, and 12 from left to right, subcarriers−13, −12, −11, and −10 and subcarriers 10, 11, and 12 are used as guardsubcarriers, and subcarriers −1, 0, and 1 are used as direct currentsubcarriers. Similarly, when an RU including 52 subcarriers are used asthe IoT-RU, only 38 of the 52 subcarriers may be used for IoT datatransmission. If the 52 subcarriers of the RU are sequentially numbered−26, −25, . . . , 24, and 25 from left to right, six subcarriersnumbered from −26 to −21 and five subcarriers numbered from 21 to 25 areused as IoT guard subcarriers, and subcarriers −1, 0, and 1 are used asIoT direct current subcarriers.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the data field included inthe downlink data frame may be generated by using a method shown in FIG.8. In FIG. 8, the network side device performs coding and modulation onthe downlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal,that is, IoT downlink data described in FIG. 8, to obtain an IoTdownlink modulation symbol. After the IoT downlink modulation symbol isobtained, the IoT downlink modulation symbol is mapped to a subcarrierincluded in the first RU, that is, a transmission location of the IoTdownlink modulation symbol in the data field is a location of thesubcarrier included in the first RU. The network side device performscoding and modulation on the downlink data between the network sidedevice and the STA, that is, 802.11ax downlink data shown in FIG. 8, toobtain a WLAN downlink modulation symbol. After the WLAN downlinkmodulation symbol is obtained, the WLAN downlink modulation symbol ismapped to a subcarrier included in the second RU, that is, atransmission location of the WLAN downlink modulation symbol in the datafield is a location of the subcarrier included in the second RU. Thenetwork side device performs inverse fast Fourier transformation (IFFT)on a frequency domain signal that includes a subcarrier corresponding tothe first RU and a subcarrier corresponding to the second RU, and adds acyclic prefix (CP) to generate a downlink baseband signal for IoT andWLAN hybrid transmission.

Correspondingly, the IoT terminal may obtain, by using the receivechannel, an IoT downlink signal from a downlink received signalincluding the downlink data frame sent by the network side device. Inthis embodiment of the present disclosure, a bandwidth of the receivechannel of the IoT terminal does not exceed a bandwidth of the first RU.A carrier frequency used by the receive channel of the IoT terminal isset to f₀+f_(r), where f₀ is a carrier frequency of the downlinkreceived signal, and f_(r) is a frequency difference between a centerfrequency of the first RU and a zero frequency (for example, a frequencycorresponding to a subcarrier numbered 0 in FIG. 7). In this embodimentof the present disclosure, after the downlink received signal passesthrough the receive channel of the IoT terminal whose operatingfrequency is set as the carrier frequency, an out-of-band WLAN downlinksignal of the first RU is filtered out. Therefore, the IoT terminal mayprocess the IoT downlink signal obtained after the filtering, to obtainthe downlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a process in which the IoT terminalprocesses the IoT downlink signal to obtain the downlink data betweenthe network side device and the IoT terminal in an OFDM manner accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure. In FIG. 9, the IoT terminalremoves a CP from each OFDM symbol of the IoT downlink signal, andperforms upsampling and FFT of a corresponding quantity of points, toobtain an IoT modulation signal that is mapped to a subcarrier includedin the first RU. For example, 256-point FFT, 512-point FFT, and1024-point FFT are respectively performed on a 20 MHz channel bandwidth,a 40 MHz channel bandwidth, and an 80 MHz channel bandwidth, to obtainthe IoT modulation signal that is mapped to the subcarrier included inthe first RU. After the IoT modulation signal is obtained, the IoTterminal performs demodulation and decoding on the IoT modulation signalto obtain the downlink data between the network side device and the IoTterminal.

Implementation 2: The network side device sends the downlink IoT frameto the IoT terminal by using the first RU in a single carrier (SingleCarrier, SC) manner.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, to avoid interference froman out-of-band 802.11ax signal of the first RU to an in-band IoT signalof the first RU, similar to downlink IoT frame transmission in an OFDMmanner, a specified quantity of subcarriers at two edge locations of thefirst RU may be used as guard subcarriers. Different from a case inwhich the downlink IoT frame transmission in an OFDM manner is easilyaffected by direct current offset of a receiver, impact of the directcurrent offset of the receiver is weaker in a single carrier manner.Therefore, a direct current subcarrier does not need to be reserved. Inthis embodiment of the present disclosure, the downlink IoT frame may besent to the IoT terminal in a single carrier manner on a frequency bandcorresponding to a subcarrier, included in the first RU, other than theguard subcarrier.

For example, when an RU including 26 subcarriers is used as the firstRU, 20 of the 26 subcarriers may be used for downlink IoT frametransmission in a single carrier manner, and six subcarriers numbered−13, −12, −11, 10, 11, and 12 are used as guard subcarriers. When an RUincluding 52 subcarriers is used as the first RU, only 42 of the 52subcarriers may be used for downlink IoT frame transmission in a singlecarrier manner, and ten subcarriers numbered from −26 to −22 and from 21to 25 are used as guard subcarriers.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the data field included inthe downlink data frame may be generated by using a method shown in FIG.10. In FIG. 10, the network side device performs coding and modulationon the downlink data between the network side device and the STA, thatis, 802.11ax downlink data shown in FIG. 10, to obtain a WLAN downlinkmodulation symbol. After the WLAN downlink modulation symbol isobtained, the WLAN downlink modulation symbol is mapped to a subcarrierincluded in the second RU, that is, a transmission location of the WLANdownlink modulation symbol in the data field is a location of thesubcarrier included in the second RU. The network side device performsIFFT on a frequency domain signal that includes a subcarriercorresponding to the second RU, and adds a CP to generate a WLANdownlink baseband signal. The network side device performs coding andmodulation on the downlink data between the network side device and theIoT terminal, that is, IoT downlink data shown in FIG. 10, and adds a CPto generate an IoT downlink single carrier symbol. The network sidedevice performs waveform shaping filtering on the IoT downlink singlecarrier symbol to obtain an IoT downlink baseband signal. The networkside device performs frequency translation on the IoT downlink basebandsignal. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, the IoT downlink baseband signalis multiplied by e^(j2πfrt) to obtain an IoT downlink band-pass signal,where t is a time variable, a center frequency of the IoT downlinkband-pass signal is f_(r), and f_(r) is a frequency difference between acenter frequency of the first RU and a zero frequency. The network sidedevice adds the IoT downlink band-pass signal and the WLAN downlinkbaseband signal to obtain a downlink baseband signal for IoT and WLANhybrid transmission.

Correspondingly, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoTterminal may obtain, by using a receive channel, an IoT downlink signalfrom a downlink received signal including the downlink data frame sentby the network side device. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a bandwidth of the receive channel of the IoT terminal doesnot exceed a bandwidth of the first RU. A carrier frequency used by thereceive channel of the IoT terminal is set to f₀+f_(r), where f₀ is acarrier frequency of the downlink received signal, and f_(r) is afrequency difference between a center frequency of the first RU and azero frequency (for example, a frequency corresponding to a subcarriernumbered 0 in FIG. 7). In this embodiment of the present disclosure,after the downlink received signal passes through the receive channel ofthe IoT terminal whose operating frequency is set as the carrierfrequency, an out-of-band WLAN downlink signal of the first RU isfiltered out. Therefore, the IoT terminal may process the IoT downlinksignal obtained after the filtering, to obtain the downlink data betweenthe network side device and the IoT terminal.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a process in which the IoT terminalprocesses the IoT downlink signal to obtain the downlink data betweenthe network side device and the IoT terminal in a single carrier manneraccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In FIG. 11, theIoT terminal removes a CP from each single carrier symbol of the IoTdownlink signal, and performs frequency domain equalization to obtain anIoT modulation signal that is mapped to a frequency band correspondingto the first RU. The IoT terminal performs demodulation and decoding onthe IoT modulation signal to obtain the downlink data between thenetwork side device and the IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the network side devicemay simultaneously receive and send an IoT signal and an 802.11ax signalin a frequency domain processing manner instead of a dual mode manner,thereby reducing implementation complexity of IoT communicationperformed by the network side device.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure,an IoT downlink single carrier modulation symbol used in single carriertransmission may be modulated in a constant envelope modulation mannersuch as frequency shift keying (FSK), differential phase shift keying(DPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), or Gaussianfrequency-shift keying (GFSK) or a higher-order modulation manner suchas quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). Typically, a used waveformshaping filter may be a Gaussian filter, a square root raised cosinefilter, or the like.

Optionally, in a specific implementation process of this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, if the IoT downlink single carrier symbolincludes K modulation symbols in addition to a CP, a period of eachmodulation symbol is T₁=T₀/K, where K is a positive integer that doesexceed a quantity of subcarriers included in the first RU, T₁ is theperiod of each modulation symbol, and T₀ is a length of an OFDM symbolof the WLAN downlink baseband signal. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a bandwidth (about 1/T₁) of each IoT downlink single carriermodulation symbol does not exceed the bandwidth of the used first RU.For example, when the first RU is an RU including 26 subcarriers,

$\frac{1}{T_{1}} = {\frac{K}{T_{0}} = {\frac{K}{12.8\mspace{14mu} {\mu s}} \leq {26 \times {\frac{20\mspace{14mu} {MHz}}{256}.}}}}$

Therefore, K≤26, that is, each IoT downlink single carrier symbolincludes a maximum of 26 modulation symbols in addition to a CP.Similarly, when the first RU is an RU including 52 subcarriers, each IoTdownlink single carrier symbol includes a maximum of 52 modulationsymbols in addition to a CP.

Optionally, in a specific implementation process of this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, because the IoT terminal supports a relativelylow bandwidth, the first RU is typically an RU including 26 or 52subcarriers. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, atleast one basic RU may be set in the first RU on each 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or80 MHz channel, and the IoT terminal first uses the basic RU tocommunicate with the network side device.

Specifically, the IoT terminal first receives the IoT downlink signal inthe basic RU of the downlink data frame, so as to perform uplink ordownlink communication with the network side device such as the AP. Thenetwork side device may send channel indication information in the basicRU, where the channel indication information is used to indicate thatthe IoT terminal is handed over from the basic RU to an RU that is usedto send a downlink IoT frame other than the basic RU.

Generally, an amount of data transmitted by a single IoT terminal isrelatively small. However, because a large quantity of IoT terminals aredeployed in IoT, one IoT-RU, that is, the first RU, needs tosimultaneously support communication of multiple IoT terminals.Therefore, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoT datafield may be further divided into a time division multiplexing (TDM)structure, that is, the IoT data field includes at least one subframe.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoT data fieldincludes downlink data of at least two IoT terminals, and downlink dataof each IoT terminal occupies at least one subframe, or occupies atleast one timeslot of at least one subframe, or occupies at least onesubframe and at least one timeslot of the at least one subframe. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 12, the IoT data field is equally divided intoP subframes. Each subframe may be further divided into Q timeslots orcertainly, may be not divided into timeslots. In this way, different IoTterminals may use different subframes or different timeslots of the IoTdata field. That is, an IoT-RU is used in a Time Division MultipleAccess (TDMA) manner, to implement communication between the networkside device and multiple IoT terminals. Therefore, in IoT communication,a data processing rate of an IoT terminal is low, IoT terminals are of alarge quantity and are widely distributed, a remote IoT terminal can becovered, and multi-user multiplexing of massive IoT terminals can besupported.

A smallest unit of an OFDMA signal in a time domain is an OFDM symbol.OFDM symbols of different time lengths are introduced in 802.11ax, suchas one time (1× for short), two times (2× for short), and four times (4×for short), and a cyclic prefix (CP) is not included. The 1× symbollength, the 2× symbol length, and the 4× symbol length are respectively3.2 microseconds, 6.4 microseconds, and 12.8 microseconds. The 1× and 2×symbol lengths in 802.11ax are mainly used for preambles. For example,to implement backward compatibility with 802.11a, 802.11n, 802.11ac, andother releases, a legacy preamble, an RL-SIG, an HE-SIG-A, and anHE-SIG-B use an OFDM symbol of a 1× symbol length, and 64-point FFTprocessing is performed in the case of 20 MHz channel bandwidth. TheOFDM symbol of a 1× symbol length is corresponding to 64 subcarriers inthe frequency domain. A longer OFDM symbol is corresponding to smallerCP overheads. Therefore, to improve efficiency, the data field uses a 4×symbol length, and 256-point FFT processing is performed in the case of20 MHz channel bandwidth. An OFDM symbol of a 4× symbol length iscorresponding to 256 subcarriers in the frequency domain.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure,in order to help the network side device to perform joint sending andreceiving on the downlink baseband signal for IoT and WLAN hybridtransmission, in the data field included in the downlink data frame, alength of an OFDM symbol of the IoT downlink modulation symbol is thesame as a length of an OFDM symbol in 802.11ax, that is, CP lengths arethe same. In this embodiment of the present disclosure, when the IoTdownlink data frame is transmitted in an OFDM manner, the length of theIoT downlink modulation symbol is the same as the length of the OFDMsymbol in 802.11ax. In other words, upper boundaries of the IoT downlinkmodulation symbol and the OFDM symbol in 802.11ax are aligned, that is,a 4× symbol length.

It should be further noted that, when the IoT downlink data frame istransmitted in a single carrier manner, an IoT single carrier symbol maybe not aligned with an OFDM symbol of an 802.11ax data field, that is, alength of the IoT single carrier symbol may be different from that ofthe OFDM symbol of the 802.11ax data field, and a CP length of the IoTsingle carrier symbol may also be different from that of the OFDMsymbol.

According to the IoT communication method provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the network side device determines that theterminal device that performs downlink data transmission includes theIoT terminal, and the network side device sends the downlink data frame.In the downlink data frame, frequency division multiplexing is performedon the data field of the 802.11ax data frame by using the downlink IoTframe, so that the network side device can schedule and coordinate theIoT terminal, thereby reducing an interference risk in IoT transmission.In a process of transmitting the downlink data frame, the STA parses alegacy preamble and a HEW preamble to obtain information about timingsynchronization, frequency synchronization, and channel estimation. TheIoT terminal parses a preamble part of the downlink IoT frame to obtaininformation about timing synchronization, frequency synchronization, andchannel estimation performed by the IoT terminal, without a need toparse the preamble part in 802.11ax, so that the IoT terminal and theSTA do not interfere with each other in a process of performingfrequency division on and sharing a channel resource in 802.11ax. In theforegoing manner, the IoT terminal does not need to support a highbandwidth of 20/40/80 MHz, and a narrow-band IoT terminal with aconstrained bandwidth is effectively supported, thereby meeting arequirement of low complexity and low power consumption of the IoTdevice.

Based on the implementation method for sending the downlink data frameby the network side device provided in the foregoing embodiment, anembodiment of the present disclosure provides another IoT communicationmethod.

FIG. 13 is an implementation flowchart of a second IoT communicationmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. A methodprocedure shown in FIG. 13 is executed by an IoT terminal. As shown inFIG. 13, an implementation process of the IoT communication methodincludes the following steps.

S201: The IoT terminal obtains a downlink IoT frame from a downlinkreceived signal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the downlink receivedsignal includes a downlink data frame sent by a network side device. Thedownlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and adata field. The legacy preamble and the HEW preamble are used forcommunication between the network side device and a station STA, and asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in afrequency domain includes at least one RU. The at least one RU is usedto send a downlink IoT frame, and the downlink IoT frame includes an IoTpreamble and an IoT data field. The IoT preamble is used to transmitphysical layer control information of the downlink IoT frame, and theIoT data field is used to transmit downlink data between the networkside device and the IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the subcarrier resourcethat is corresponding to the data field of the downlink data frame inthe frequency domain sent by the network side device may further includeat least one other RU different from the RU that is used to transmit anIoT downlink data frame, and the at least one other RU is used totransmit downlink data between the network side device and the STA.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, for ease of description,the RU that is used to transmit the IoT downlink data frame is referredto as a first RU, and the RU that is used to transmit the downlink databetween the network side device and the STA is referred to as a secondRU. In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the first RU is usedby the network side device to send the downlink IoT frame to the IoTterminal, and the second RU is used by the network side device to sendthe downlink data between the network side device and the STA to theSTA.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, a bandwidth of a receivechannel of the IoT terminal does not exceed a bandwidth of the first RU.A carrier frequency used by the receive channel of the IoT terminal isf₀+f_(r), where f₀ is a carrier frequency of the downlink receivedsignal, and f_(r) is a frequency difference between a center frequencyof the first RU and a zero frequency.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, for a specific structureof the downlink data frame included in the downlink received signal,refer to related description in FIG. 6 in the foregoing embodiment.Details are not described herein again.

S202: The IoT terminal processes the downlink IoT frame to obtaindownlink data between a network side device and the IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, for a specificimplementation process in which the IoT terminal processes the downlinkIoT frame to obtain the downlink data between the network side deviceand the IoT terminal, refer to related description in FIG. 9 and FIG. 11in the foregoing embodiment. Details are not described herein again.

According to the IoT communication method provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the IoT downlink signal received by the IoTterminal includes the downlink data frame sent by the network sidedevice, and frequency division multiplexing is performed on the downlinkIoT frame in the downlink data frame and a data field of an 802.11axdata frame, so that the IoT terminal can be scheduled and coordinated bythe network side device, thereby reducing an interference risk in IoTtransmission. In a process of transmitting the downlink data frame, theSTA parses a legacy preamble and a HEW preamble to obtain informationabout timing synchronization, frequency synchronization, and channelestimation. The IoT terminal parses a preamble part of the downlink IoTframe to obtain information about timing synchronization, frequencysynchronization, and channel estimation performed by the IoT terminal,without a need to parse a preamble part in 802.11ax, so that the IoTterminal and the STA do not interfere with each other in a process ofperforming frequency division on and sharing a channel resource in802.11ax. In the foregoing manner, the IoT terminal does not need tosupport a high bandwidth of 20/40/80 MHz, and a narrow-band IoT terminalwith a constrained bandwidth is effectively supported, thereby meeting arequirement of low complexity and low power consumption of the IoTdevice.

The foregoing embodiments of the present disclosure mainly describe aprocess in which the network side device such as the AP sends downlinkdata and the IoT terminal receives the downlink data. The followingembodiments of the present disclosure will describe a process in whichthe IoT terminal sends uplink data and the network side device such asthe AP receives the uplink data in an IoT communication manner providedin the embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is an implementation flowchart of a third IoT communicationmanner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. A methodprocedure shown in FIG. 14 is executed by an IoT terminal, and the IoTterminal sends uplink data. As shown in FIG. 14, the method procedureincludes the following steps.

S301: The IoT terminal receives an uplink transmission schedulingrequest sent by a network side device.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, when the IoT terminalsends uplink data to the network side device such as an AP, the networkside device needs to deliver the uplink transmission scheduling request.The uplink transmission scheduling request is used to schedule the IoTterminal to send an uplink IoT frame, so as to perform uplink datatransmission. The uplink IoT frame is located in a data field of anuplink data frame, a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to thedata field of the uplink data frame in a frequency domain includes atleast one RU, and the at least one RU is used to send the uplink IoTframe.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink transmissionscheduling request may include information such as an identifier of theIoT terminal that is scheduled to perform uplink data transmission, anuplink transmission resource allocated to the IoT terminal that performsuplink data transmission, and a coding and modulation manner. Byreceiving the uplink transmission scheduling request, the IoT terminalthat is scheduled to perform uplink data transmission learns whether thenetwork side device allows the IoT terminal that receives the uplinktransmission scheduling request to send the uplink data, and obtainsinformation such as a transmission resource and a transmission formatused for transmitting the uplink data, so that the IoT terminal that isscheduled to perform uplink data transmission sends the uplink dataaccording to the information.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink transmissionscheduling request may be sent by using a downlink data frame. Thedownlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and adata field. The legacy preamble and the HEW preamble are used forcommunication between the network side device and a station STA, and asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in thefrequency domain includes at least one RU that is used to send theuplink transmission scheduling request. In this embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the RU that is used to send the uplink transmissionscheduling request may also be referred to as a first RU.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure,the uplink transmission scheduling request sent by the network sidedevice may be a separate downlink trigger frame, and the downlinktrigger frame may use a frame structure of the downlink data frame shownin FIG. 6. The network side device may further send the downlink dataand the downlink trigger frame to schedule the IoT terminal to performuplink data transmission. That is, in addition to sending the uplinktransmission scheduling request, the first RU may be used by the networkside device to send the downlink data to the IoT terminal. The IoTterminal corresponding to the downlink data may be the IoT terminal thatis scheduled to perform uplink data transmission, or may be another IoTterminal.

S302: The IoT terminal sends an uplink IoT frame according to the uplinktransmission scheduling request.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink IoT frame sentby the IoT terminal includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field. TheIoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control information ofthe uplink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmit uplinkdata between the network side device and the IoT terminal.

The physical layer control information that is of the uplink IoT frameand that is transmitted by the IoT preamble includes one or anycombination of the following sequences: a synchronization sequence usedby the network side device to obtain timing synchronization andfrequency synchronization of the uplink IoT frame; or a trainingsequence used by the network side device to obtain channel estimationrequired for demodulating the uplink IoT frame.

Specifically, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplinkIoT frame is located in the data field of the uplink data frame, and theuplink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and a datafield. The legacy preamble and the HEW preamble are used forcommunication between the network side device and the station STA, and asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in thefrequency domain includes a third RU. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the uplink IoT frame is located in the third RU. In otherwords, the uplink IoT frame is sent by using the third RU in thisembodiment of the present disclosure.

Therefore, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplinktransmission scheduling request further includes location information ofthe uplink IoT frame sent by the IoT terminal, and the locationinformation includes a start moment of the data field of the uplink dataframe and an identifier of the third RU for sending the uplink IoTframe. In this way, the IoT terminal can send the uplink IoT frame inthe third RU at the start moment of the data field of the uplink dataframe according to the uplink transmission scheduling request.

For a structure of the uplink data frame provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, refer to FIG. 15 and FIG. 16. In FIG. 15 andFIG. 16, the third RU is an RU that is used to transmit the uplink databetween the network side device and the IoT terminal, and may also bereferred to as an IoT-RU. A non-IoT-RU is an RU that is used to transmitthe uplink data between the network side device and the STA.

In a structure of an uplink data frame shown in FIG. 15, the IoTterminal and the STA perform frequency division multiplexing on asubcarrier resource in a data field of the data frame. The uplink dataframe includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and a data field. Thelegacy preamble shown in FIG. 15 includes fields such as the L-STF, theL-LTF, and the L-SIG shown in FIG. 2, and the HEW preamble shown in FIG.15 includes fields such as the RL-SIG, the HE-SIG-A, the HE-SIG-B, theHE-STF, and the HE-LTF shown in FIG. 2. That is, the legacy preamble andthe HEW preamble included in the uplink data frame in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure have same functions and same structures as alegacy preamble and a HEW preamble in 802.11ax, and both are used forcommunication between the network side device and the STA.

The data field included in the uplink data frame shown in FIG. 15 inthis embodiment of the present disclosure is different from the datafield of the 802.11ax data frame structure shown in FIG. 2. In thisembodiment of the present disclosure, a subcarrier resource that iscorresponding to the data field of the uplink data frame shown in FIG.15 in the frequency domain includes a third RU and a non-IoT-RU. Thethird RU is used to send the uplink IoT frame. The non-IoT-RU is used bythe STA to send the uplink data between the network side device and theSTA to the network side device.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink IoT framelocated in the third RU includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field,the IoT preamble is used to transmit the physical layer controlinformation of the uplink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used totransmit the uplink data between the network side device and the IoTterminal.

The physical layer control information that is of the uplink IoT frameand that is transmitted by the IoT preamble includes one or anycombination of the following sequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the network side device to obtaintiming synchronization and frequency synchronization of the uplink IoTframe; or

a training sequence used by the network side device to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the uplink IoT frame.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, for the uplink IoT framelocated in the third RU, the network side device parses a preamble partof the uplink IoT frame to obtain information about timingsynchronization, frequency synchronization, or channel estimationperformed with the IoT terminal. That is, the IoT terminal needs to sendonly a narrow-band uplink IoT frame, and does not need to support a highbandwidth of 20/40/80 MHz. Therefore, in the present disclosure, anarrow-band IoT terminal with a constrained bandwidth can be effectivelysupported, thereby meeting a requirement of low complexity and low powerconsumption of the IoT device.

In a structure of an uplink data frame shown in FIG. 16, all subcarrierresources of a data field are used to transmit an uplink IoT frame. Asshown in FIG. 16, when all RUs of the data field are used to transmitthe uplink IoT frame, the uplink data frame may not include a legacypreamble or a HEW preamble, and the data field includes a third RU.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoT terminal receivesan uplink trigger request, that is, after sending a downlink data frameby using a structure of the downlink data frame, the IoT terminal startsto transmit an uplink data frame after a preset interval. The presetinterval is supposed to be greater than a time required for demodulatingand decoding the downlink data frame by the scheduled IoT terminal andfor preparing transmission of the uplink data frame (for example,conversion of a radio frequency channel in uplink and downlinktransmission).

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, FIG. 17 shows a physicallayer frame structure of uplink data transmission corresponding tosending an uplink IoT frame by using the uplink data frame shown in FIG.15. FIG. 18 shows a physical layer frame structure of uplink datatransmission corresponding to sending an uplink IoT frame by using theuplink data frame shown in FIG. 16.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the following specificallydescribes an implementation process in which the IoT terminal sends theuplink IoT frame by using the third RU in the uplink data frame.

Implementation 1: The IoT terminal sends the uplink IoT frame by usingthe third RU in an OFDM manner.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, to avoid interference froman out-of-band 802.11ax signal of the third RU to an in-band IoT signalof the third RU, the IoT terminal specifically sends the uplink IoTframe in the following manner:

A: A specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of thethird RU are used as guard subcarriers.

B: A specified quantity of subcarriers in a middle location of the thirdRU are used as direct current subcarriers.

C: The uplink IoT frame is sent to the network side device on asubcarrier, included in the third RU, other than the guard subcarrierand the direct current subcarrier.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink IoTframe may be sent by using the third RU and by using a method shown inFIG. 19. In FIG. 19, the IoT terminal performs coding and modulation onthe uplink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal,that is, IoT uplink data shown in FIG. 19, to obtain an IoT uplinkmodulation symbol, and maps the IoT uplink modulation symbol to asubcarrier included in the third RU. The IoT terminal performs IFFT anddownsampling on a frequency domain signal that includes a subcarriercorresponding to the third RU, adds a CP to obtain a first IoT uplinkbaseband signal, and sends the first IoT uplink baseband signal by usingan uplink transmit channel.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, a carrier frequency of theuplink transmit channel for transmitting the first IoT uplink basebandsignal is f₀+f_(r), where f₀ is a carrier frequency of a channel fortransmitting the uplink data frame in which the third RU is located, andf_(r) is a frequency difference between a center frequency of the thirdRU and a zero frequency.

Manner 2: The IoT terminal sends the uplink IoT frame by using the thirdRU in a single carrier manner.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, to avoid interference froman out-of-band 802.11ax signal of the third RU to an in-band IoT signalof the third RU, the IoT terminal specifically sends the uplink IoTframe in the following manner:

A: The IoT terminal uses a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edgelocations of the third RU as guard subcarriers.

B: The IoT terminal sends the uplink IoT frame to the network sidedevice in a single carrier manner on a frequency band corresponding to asubcarrier, included in the third RU, other than the guard subcarrier.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoT terminal may sendthe uplink IoT frame in a single carrier manner and in a manner shown inFIG. 20. In FIG. 20, the IoT terminal performs coding and modulation onthe uplink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal,where the uplink data between the network side device and the IoTterminal is IoT uplink data shown in FIG. 20; and adds a cyclic prefixto generate an IoT uplink single carrier symbol. The IoT terminalperforms waveform shaping filtering on the IoT uplink single carriersymbol to obtain a second IoT uplink baseband signal. The IoT terminalsends the second IoT uplink baseband signal by using an uplink transmitchannel.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, a carrier frequency of theuplink transmit channel is f₀+f_(r), where f₀ is a carrier frequency ofa channel for transmitting the uplink data frame in which the third RUis located, and f_(r) is a frequency difference between a centerfrequency of the third RU and a zero frequency.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to help thenetwork side device such as the AP to perform joint receiving on the IoTsignal and the 802.11AX signal, in a process of sending the uplink IoTframe in a single carrier manner, a length of the IoT uplink singlecarrier symbol is the same as a length of an OFDM symbol in 802.11ax.That is, the IoT uplink single carrier symbol and an OFDM symbol of aWLAN uplink baseband signal sent by the STA use CPs of a same length,and a length of the IoT uplink single carrier symbol is the same as alength of the OFDM symbol of the WLAN uplink baseband signal sent by theSTA. In other words, as shown in FIG. 21, upper boundaries of the IoTuplink single carrier symbol and the OFDM symbol in 802.11ax arealigned, that is, a 4× symbol length.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure,when the uplink IoT frame is transmitted in an OFDM manner, a length ofthe IoT uplink modulation symbol is the same as the length of the OFDMsymbol in 802.11ax. In other words, upper boundaries of the IoT uplinkmodulation symbol and the OFDM symbol in 802.11ax are aligned, that is,a 4× symbol length.

It should be noted that, in FIG. 21 in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, an IoT-RU is the third RU that is used to transmit theuplink data between the IoT terminal and the network side device, and anon-IoT-RU is the RU that is used to transmit the uplink data betweenthe STA and the network side device.

It should be further noted that, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a manner of sending the uplink IoT frame by the IoT terminalby using the third RU is not limited to a manner of sending a downlinkIoT frame by the network side device. For example, if the network sidedevice sends the downlink IoT frame in an OFDM manner, the IoT terminalmay send the uplink IoT frame in a single carrier manner.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoT uplinksingle carrier symbol includes K modulation symbols, and a period ofeach modulation symbol is T₁=T₀/K, where K is a positive integer thatdoes not exceed a quantity of subcarriers included in the third RU, T₁is the period of each modulation symbol, and T₀ is the length of theOFDM symbol of the WLAN uplink baseband signal sent by the STA.

Optionally, in a specific process of implementing the IoT communicationmethod provided in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplinkIoT frame includes uplink IoT subframes sent by at least two IoTterminals, and the uplink IoT subframe sent by each IoT terminalincludes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field. In other words, theuplink IoT frame in the uplink data frame includes at least onesubframe. Each IoT terminal uses the at least one subframe to send theuplink IoT subframe of each IoT terminal, and the uplink IoT subframesent by each IoT terminal includes an IoT preamble and an IoT datafield. For example, as shown in FIG. 22, the uplink IoT frame is equallydivided into P subframes, and different IoT terminals may use differentsubframes of the uplink IoT frame. That is, an IoT-RU is used in a TDMAmanner, to implement communication between the network side device andmultiple IoT terminals. Therefore, in IoT communication, a dataprocessing rate of an IoT terminal is low, IoT terminals are of a largequantity and are widely distributed, a remote IoT terminal can becovered, and multi-user multiplexing of massive IoT terminals can besupported.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure,the P subframes of the uplink IoT frame shown in FIG. 22 are obtained bymeans of equal division, or subframes included in the uplink IoT framemay be not obtained by means of equal division. This is not limited in aspecific implementation.

Optionally, because a constant envelope modulation method has a maximumpeak to average power ratio (PAPR), the IoT terminal can implementlow-voltage power supply, a transmit power is relatively small, and anuplink PAPR can be reduced as much as possible. In this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the constant envelope modulation method may beused in a process of sending the uplink IoT frame by the IoT terminal.For example, GFSK modulation is used.

It should be noted that, this embodiment of the present disclosure isnot limited to the constant envelope modulation method. For example, aQAM modulation manner may be used. A PAPR of the QAM modulation manneris slightly greater than a PAPR of constant envelope modulation, but isfar less than a PAPR of an OFDM manner, and therefore, a relatively hightransmission rate can be implemented.

According to the IoT communication method provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the uplink IoT frame sent by the IoT terminal islocated in the third RU of the uplink data frame, and in the uplink dataframe, the IoT terminal and the STA perform frequency divisionmultiplexing on a data field of an 802.11ax data frame, so that the IoTterminal can be scheduled and coordinated by the network side device,thereby reducing an interference risk in IoT communication. In a processof transmitting the uplink data frame, the IoT terminal needs to sendonly a narrow-band uplink IoT frame. The IoT terminal and the STAperform frequency division multiplexing on a channel resource in802.11ax, and do not interfere with each other. In the foregoing manner,the IoT terminal does not need to support a high bandwidth of 20/40/80MHz, and a narrow-band IoT terminal with a constrained bandwidth iseffectively supported, thereby meeting a requirement of low complexityand low power consumption of the IoT device.

Based on the foregoing embodiment in which the IoT terminal sends theuplink data, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides anIoT communication method. FIG. 23 is an implementation flowchart of afourth IoT communication method according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The method in FIG. 23 is executed by a network sidedevice. As shown in FIG. 23, the method includes the following steps.

S401: The network side device sends an uplink transmission schedulingrequest to an IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink transmissionscheduling request is used to schedule the IoT terminal to send anuplink IoT frame, so as to perform uplink data transmission.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink transmissionscheduling request may be sent by using a downlink data frame. Thedownlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and adata field. The legacy preamble and the HEW preamble are used forcommunication between the network side device and a station STA, and asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in afrequency domain includes at least one RU that is used to send theuplink transmission scheduling request. In this embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the RU that is used to send the uplink transmissionscheduling request may also be referred to as a first RU.

S402: The network side device obtains an uplink IoT frame sent by theIoT terminal according to the uplink transmission scheduling request.

The uplink IoT frame is located in a data field of an uplink data frame,a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of theuplink data frame in the frequency domain includes at least one RU, andthe at least one RU is used to send the uplink IoT frame. For ease ofdescription, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, an RU that isused to send the uplink IoT frame is referred to as a third RU, orcertainly, may be referred to as an IoT-RU.

The uplink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, theIoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control information ofthe uplink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmit uplinkdata between the network side device and the IoT terminal.

Specifically, the network side device may receive, in a manner shown inFIG. 24, an uplink data frame sent by the IoT terminal according to theuplink transmission scheduling request. In FIG. 24, the network sidedevice obtains an uplink received signal. The uplink received signalincludes the uplink IoT frame sent by the IoT terminal, and the uplinkIoT frame is located in the third RU of the uplink data frame. Thenetwork side device removes a CP from the uplink received signal, andperforms FFT to obtain a frequency domain received signal. The networkside device obtains a signal on a sub carrier corresponding to the thirdRU from the frequency domain received signal to obtain an IoT frequencydomain signal. The network side device performs frequency domainequalization, IFFT, and demodulation and decoding on the IoT frequencydomain signal to obtain the uplink data that is between the network sidedevice and the IoT terminal and that is sent by using the IoT frame.

According to the IoT communication method provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the network side device sends the uplinkscheduling request to the IoT terminal by using the downlink data frame,and frequency division multiplexing is performed on the downlink IoTframe in the downlink data frame and a data field of an 802.11ax dataframe, so that the network side device can schedule and coordinate theIoT terminal, thereby reducing an interference risk in IoT transmission.The network side device receives the uplink data frame sent by the IoTterminal according to the uplink transmission scheduling request. Theuplink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and a datafield, and the data field includes a third RU that is used to transmituplink data between the IoT terminal and the network side device.Therefore, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoTterminal needs to send only a narrow-band uplink IoT frame. The IoTterminal and the STA perform frequency division multiplexing on achannel resource in 802.11ax, and do not interfere with each other. Inthe foregoing manner, the IoT terminal does not need to support a highbandwidth of 20/40/80 MHz, and a narrow-band IoT terminal with aconstrained bandwidth is effectively supported, thereby meeting arequirement of low complexity and low power consumption of the IoTdevice.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the network side devicesends a downlink data frame, and the downlink data frame includes alegacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and a data field. The legacy preambleand the HEW preamble are used for communication between the network sidedevice and the STA. A subcarrier resource that is corresponding to thedata field in the frequency domain includes a first RU and a second RU.The first RU is used to send a downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal,where the downlink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoT datafield, the IoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer controlinformation of the downlink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used totransmit downlink data between the network side device and the IoTterminal. The second RU is used to send downlink data between thenetwork side device and the STA to the STA.

The STA parses the legacy preamble and the HEW preamble by using thedownlink data frame to obtain information about timing synchronization,frequency synchronization, channel estimation, or the like performed bythe STA, and obtains the downlink data between the network side deviceand the STA by using the second RU in the data field.

The IoT terminal parses the IoT preamble by using the downlink dataframe to obtain fields of timing synchronization, frequencysynchronization and channel estimation performed by the IoT terminal,and obtains, by using the first RU in the data field, the downlink datasent by the network side device.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the network side devicemay further send the uplink transmission scheduling request to the IoTterminal, and schedule the IoT terminal to send uplink data. In thisembodiment of the present disclosure, the network side device receivesuplink data by using an uplink data frame, where the uplink data frameincludes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and a data field. The legacypreamble and the HEW preamble are used for communication between thenetwork side device and the station STA. A subcarrier resource that iscorresponding to the data field in the frequency domain includes a thirdRU, and the third RU is used to transmit the uplink data between thenetwork side device and the IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the network side devicemay receive the uplink data frame in a single carrier manner. As shownin FIG. 25, an implementation process of receiving the uplink data framein a single carrier manner includes: performing, by the network sidedevice, CP removal and FFT processing on an uplink baseband receivedsignal obtain by means of sampling for transformation to a frequencydomain, where 256-point FFT, 512-point FFT, and 1024-point FFT arerespectively performed on a 20 MHz channel bandwidth, a 40 MHz channelbandwidth, and an 80 MHz channel bandwidth; performing a subcarrierdemapping operation, and performing 802.11ax uplink signal receivingprocessing on a signal in a non-IoT-RU to obtain 802.11ax uplink data;and performing frequency domain equalization on a signal in an IoT-RU,then performing IFFT for transformation to a time domain, and finallyperforming IoT uplink signal receiving processing such as demodulationand decoding, to obtain IoT uplink data. It should be noted that, if amodulation manner such as GFSK is used, frequency domain equalizationprocessing may be not performed.

Typically, when a sampling frequency of an IoT signal obtained after thefrequency domain equalization is 2.5 MHz, the IoT-RU is an RU including26 subcarriers, and 32-point IFFT may be performed for transformation toa time domain. When a sampling frequency of an IoT signal obtained afterthe frequency domain equalization is 5 MHz, the IoT-RU is an RUincluding 52 subcarriers, and 64-point IFFT may be performed fortransformation to a time domain.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure,the IoT terminal does not send or receive the legacy preambles and theHEW preambles included in the uplink data frame and the downlink dataframe, and the legacy preambles and the HEW preambles are used forcommunication between the network side device and the STA. That is, thelegacy preamble and the HEW preamble in the downlink data frame are sentby the network side device, and the legacy preamble and the HEW preamblein the uplink data frame are sent by the STA. The IoT device filters outan out-of-band signal of the IoT-RU by using an analog filter of thereceive channel, and receives an in-band signal of the IoT-RU.Therefore, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, both the firstRU included in the data field of the downlink data frame and the thirdRU included in the data field of the uplink data frame have anindependent frame structure that is independent of the legacy preambleand the HEW preamble in the downlink data frame. In this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the independent frame structure may be referredto as an IoT frame.

Specifically, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoTpreamble includes the physical layer control information of the downlinkIoT frame or the uplink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used totransmit the downlink data or the uplink data between the network sidedevice and the IoT terminal. The physical layer control information ofthe downlink IoT frame includes a synchronization sequence used by theIoT terminal to obtain timing synchronization and frequencysynchronization of the downlink IoT frame, a training sequence used bythe IoT terminal to obtain channel estimation required for demodulatingthe downlink IoT frame, or the like. The physical layer controlinformation of the uplink IoT frame includes a synchronization sequenceused by the network side device to obtain timing synchronization andfrequency synchronization of the uplink IoT frame, a training sequenceused by the network side device to obtain channel estimation requiredfor demodulating the uplink IoT frame, or the like. In other words, inthis embodiment of the present disclosure, the network side deviceparses a preamble part of the uplink IoT frame to obtain informationabout timing synchronization, frequency synchronization, or channelestimation with the IoT terminal. That is, the IoT terminal needs tosend only a narrow-band uplink IoT frame, and does not need to support ahigh bandwidth of 20/40/80 MHz. Therefore, in the present disclosure, anarrow-band IoT terminal with a constrained bandwidth can be effectivelysupported, thereby meeting a requirement of low complexity and low powerconsumption of the IoT device.

FIG. 26 is an embodiment of an OFDM-based IoT frame according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. An IoT-STF is used for IoT timingsynchronization, automatic gain control, and the like. An IoT-SIG isused to transmit IoT physical layer signaling. An IoT-LTF₁ is used toobtain channel estimation required for demodulating the IoT-SIG. AnIoT-LTF₂ to an IoT-LTF_(N) are used to obtain MIMO (Multiple InputMultiple Output) channel estimation required for demodulating an IoTdata field in multiple-input multiple-output transmission. The IoT datafield is used to transmit IoT uplink data or IoT downlink data. For adesign of a synchronization sequence transmitted by the IoT-STF, referto the prior art. Details are not described in this embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, to cover a remote IoTdevice, the IoT-STF uses a longer synchronization sequence. For example,a length of the IoT-STF may be twice a length of an IoT OFDM symbol,that is, 12.8×2=25.6 microseconds. The IoT-LTF₁ may use a structuresimilar to that of an L-LTF. As shown in FIG. 26, a double guardinterval (DGI) is twice a CP length of the IoT OFDM symbol. Two longtraining sequence (LTS) symbols are continuously transmitted, and alength of each LTS symbol is 12.8 microseconds. Alternatively, a longersymbol is used, that is, a four-time guard interval (4GI) is used, andfour times of a CP length of the IoT OFDM symbol is used as a cyclicprefix, or a DGI is used as a cyclic prefix. The IoT-LTF₂ to theIoT-LTF_(N) may use a structure similar to that of an HE-LTF. To cover aremote IoT device, a symbol of each of the IoT-LTF₂ to the IoT-LTF_(N)uses a structure the same as that of the IoT-LTF₁, that is, a DGI or a4GI is used as a cyclic prefix, and two or four same training symbolsare continuously transmitted. To ensure reliable transmission of an IoTSIG, binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and channel coding of a ½ codingrate may be performed. To cover a remote IoT device, the IoT SIG may berepeatedly transmitted, that is, an OFDM symbol of each IoT SIG istransmitted two or more times.

FIG. 27 is an embodiment of a single carrier based IoT frame accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure. An IoT_sync is used totransmit a synchronization sequence, and is used for IoT timingsynchronization and automatic gain control. An IoT_sig is used totransmit IoT physical layer signaling. An IoT data field is used totransmit IoT uplink data or IoT downlink data. In this embodiment, GFSKor DPSK modulation is performed on both the IoT_sig and the IoT datafield. Because this type of modulation does not require channelestimation for coherent demodulation, a preamble of an IoT frame doesnot transmit a field for sending a reference symbol. Therefore,receiving processing of an IoT signal is relatively simple in thisembodiment, and has advantages of low costs and low power consumption.

Based on the first IoT communication method provided in the embodimentsof the present disclosure, an embodiment of the present disclosureprovides a network side device 100. As shown in FIG. 28, the networkside device 100 includes a determining unit 101 and a sending unit 102.

The determining unit 101 is configured to determine a terminal devicethat performs downlink data transmission, where the terminal deviceincludes an IoT terminal.

The sending unit 102 is configured to send a downlink data frame.

The downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a high efficiencywireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field.

A subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in afrequency domain includes at least one RU. The RU is used to send adownlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal, where the downlink IoT frameincludes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, the IoT preamble is usedto transmit physical layer control information of the downlink IoTframe, and the IoT data field is used to transmit downlink data betweenthe network side device 100 and the IoT terminal.

In an implementation, the terminal device further includes a stationSTA.

The subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in thefrequency domain further includes at least one other RU different fromthe RU.

The at least one other RU is used to transmit downlink data between thenetwork side device 100 and the STA.

The sending unit 102 specifically sends the downlink IoT frame to theIoT terminal by using the RU in the following manner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard sub carriers;

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in a middle location of the RUas direct current subcarriers; and

sending the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal by using asubcarrier, included in the RU, other than the guard subcarrier and thedirect current subcarrier.

Further, the sending unit 102 specifically generates the data fieldincluded in the downlink data frame in the following manner:

performing coding and modulation on the downlink data between thenetwork side device 100 and the IoT terminal to obtain an IoT downlinkmodulation symbol, and mapping the IoT downlink modulation symbol to asubcarrier included in the at least one RU;

performing coding and modulation on the downlink data between thenetwork side device 100 and the STA to obtain a wireless local areanetwork WLAN downlink modulation symbol, and mapping the WLAN downlinkmodulation symbol to a subcarrier included in the at least one other RU;and

performing inverse fast Fourier transformation IFFT on a frequencydomain signal that includes a subcarrier corresponding to the at leastone RU and a subcarrier corresponding to the at least one other RU, andadding a cyclic prefix to generate a downlink baseband signal for IoTand WLAN hybrid transmission.

Specifically, the sending unit 102 may further send the downlink IoTframe to the IoT terminal by using the RU in the following manner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard subcarriers; and

sending the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal in a single carriermanner on a frequency band corresponding to a subcarrier, included inthe RU, other than the guard subcarrier.

Further, the sending unit 102 may specifically generate the data fieldincluded in the downlink data frame in the following manner:

performing coding and modulation on the downlink data between thenetwork side device 100 and the STA to obtain a wireless local areanetwork WLAN downlink modulation symbol, and mapping the WLAN downlinkmodulation symbol to a subcarrier included in the at least one other RU;performing inverse fast Fourier transformation IFFT on a frequencydomain signal that includes a subcarrier corresponding to the at leastone other RU, and adding a cyclic prefix CP to generate a WLAN downlinkbaseband signal; performing coding and modulation on the downlink databetween the network side device 100 and the IoT terminal, and adding aCP to generate an IoT downlink single carrier symbol; performingwaveform shaping filtering on the IoT downlink single carrier symbol toobtain an IoT downlink baseband signal; performing frequency translationon the IoT downlink baseband signal to obtain an IoT downlink band-passsignal, where a center frequency of the IoT downlink band-pass signal isf_(r), and f_(r) is a frequency difference between a zero frequency anda center frequency of an RU that is used to send a downlink IoT frame;and adding the IoT downlink band-pass signal and the WLAN downlinkbaseband signal to obtain a downlink baseband signal for IoT and WLANhybrid transmission.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoT downlink singlecarrier symbol and an OFDM symbol of the WLAN downlink baseband signaluse CPs of a same length, and a length of the IoT downlink singlecarrier symbol is the same as a length of the OFDM symbol of the WLANdownlink baseband signal.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoTdownlink single carrier symbol includes K modulation symbols, and aperiod of each modulation symbol is T₁=T₀/K, where

K is a positive integer that does not exceed a quantity of subcarriersincluded in the RU that is used to send a downlink IoT frame, T₁ is theperiod of each modulation symbol, and T₀ is the length of the OFDMsymbol of the WLAN downlink baseband signal.

In another implementation of the present disclosure, the RU that is usedto send a downlink IoT frame includes at least one basic RU.

The sending unit 102 is further configured to send channel indicationinformation in the basic RU.

The channel indication information is used to indicate that the IoTterminal is handed over from the basic RU to an RU that is used to senda downlink IoT frame other than the basic RU.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure,the physical layer control information that is of the downlink IoT frameand that is transmitted by the IoT preamble includes one or anycombination of the following sequences: a synchronization sequence usedby the IoT terminal to obtain timing synchronization and frequencysynchronization of the downlink IoT frame; or a training sequence usedby the IoT terminal to obtain channel estimation required fordemodulating the downlink IoT frame.

It should be further noted that, the IoT data field includes at leastone subframe. The IoT data field includes downlink data of at least twoIoT terminals. Downlink data of each IoT terminal occupies at least onesubframe; or downlink data of each IoT terminal occupies at least onetimeslot of at least one subframe; or downlink data of each IoT terminaloccupies at least one subframe and at least one timeslot of the at leastone subframe.

Based on the first IoT communication method provided in the embodimentsof the present disclosure, this embodiment of the present disclosurefurther provides a network side device 1000. As shown in FIG. 29, thenetwork side device 1000 includes a memory 1001, a processor 1002, and atransmitter 1003.

The memory 1001 is configured to store program code executed by theprocessor 1002.

The processor 1002 is configured to invoke a program stored in thememory 1001 to determine a terminal device that performs downlink datatransmission, where the terminal device includes an IoT terminal; andsend a downlink data frame by using the transmitter 1003.

The downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a high efficiencywireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field.

A subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in afrequency domain includes at least one RU. The RU is used to send adownlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal, where the downlink IoT frameincludes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, the IoT preamble is usedto transmit physical layer control information of the downlink IoTframe, and the IoT data field is used to transmit downlink data betweenthe network side device 100 and the IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 1002 isfurther configured to invoke the program stored in the memory 1001, soas to implement functions of the network side device 100 provided inthis embodiment of the present disclosure, and implement the first IoTcommunication method provided in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. For specific functions implemented by the processor 1002,refer to related description in the first IoT communication method andthe network side device 100 in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Details are not described herein again.

The network side device 100 and the network side device 1000 provided inthis embodiment of the present disclosure may be, for example, an AP.This is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

According to the network side device 100 and the network side device1000 provided in this embodiment of the present disclosure, it isdetermined that the terminal device that performs downlink datatransmission includes the IoT terminal, and frequency divisionmultiplexing is performed on a data field of an 802.11ax data frame byusing the downlink IoT frame in the downlink data frame sent by thenetwork side device 100 or the network side device 1000, so that thenetwork side device 100 or the network side device 1000 can schedule andcoordinate the IoT terminal, thereby reducing an interference risk inIoT transmission. In a process of transmitting the downlink data frame,the STA parses a legacy preamble and a HEW preamble to obtaininformation about timing synchronization, frequency synchronization, andchannel estimation. The IoT terminal parses a preamble part of thedownlink IoT frame to obtain information about timing synchronization,frequency synchronization, and channel estimation performed by the IoTterminal, without a need to parse a preamble part in 802.11ax, so thatthe IoT terminal and the STA do not interfere with each other in aprocess of performing frequency division on and sharing a channelresource in 802.11ax. In the foregoing manner, the IoT terminal does notneed to support a high bandwidth of 20/40/80 MHz, and a narrow-band IoTterminal with a constrained bandwidth is effectively supported, therebymeeting a requirement of low complexity and low power consumption of theIoT device.

Based on the second IoT communication method provided in the embodimentsof the present disclosure, an embodiment of the present disclosureprovides an IoT terminal 200. As shown in FIG. 30, the IoT terminal 200provided in this embodiment of the present disclosure includes anobtaining unit 201 and a processing unit 202.

The obtaining unit 201 is configured to obtain a downlink IoT frame froma downlink received signal, where the downlink received signal includesa downlink data frame sent by a network side device.

The downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a high efficiencywireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field, a subcarrierresource that is corresponding to the data field in a frequency domainincludes at least one RU, the at least one RU is used to send a downlinkIoT frame, the downlink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoTdata field, the IoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer controlinformation of the downlink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used totransmit downlink data between the network side device and the IoTterminal 200.

The processing unit 202 is configured to process the downlink IoT frameobtained by the obtaining unit 201, to obtain the downlink data betweenthe network side device and the IoT terminal 200.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, a bandwidth of a receivechannel of the IoT terminal 200 does not exceed a bandwidth of the RU. Acarrier frequency used by the receive channel of the IoT terminal 200 isf₀+f_(r), where f₀ is a carrier frequency of the downlink IoT frame, andf_(r) is a frequency difference between a center frequency of the RU anda zero frequency.

In an implementation of this embodiment of the present disclosure, theprocessing unit 202 is specifically configured to process the downlinkIoT frame to obtain the downlink data between the network side deviceand the IoT terminal 200 in the following manner:

removing a cyclic prefix CP from each orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing OFDM symbol of the downlink IoT frame, and performingupsampling and fast Fourier transformation FFT to obtain an IoTmodulation signal that is mapped to a subcarrier included in the RU; andperforming demodulation and decoding on the IoT modulation signal toobtain the downlink data between the network side device and the IoTterminal 200.

In another implementation of this embodiment of the present disclosure,the processing unit 202 is specifically configured to process thedownlink IoT frame to obtain the downlink data between the network sidedevice and the IoT terminal 200 in the following manner:

removing a cyclic prefix CP from each single carrier symbol of thedownlink IoT frame, and performing frequency domain equalization toobtain an IoT modulation signal that is mapped to a frequency bandcorresponding to the RU; and performing demodulation and decoding on theIoT modulation signal to obtain the downlink data between the networkside device and the IoT terminal 200.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure,the physical layer control information that is of the downlink IoT frameand that is transmitted by the IoT preamble may include one or anycombination of the following sequences:

A. a synchronization sequence used by the IoT terminal 200 to obtaintiming synchronization and frequency synchronization of the downlink IoTframe; or

B. a training sequence used by the IoT terminal 200 to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the downlink IoT frame.

Based on the second IoT communication method and the IoT terminal 200provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, this embodimentof the present disclosure further provides an IoT terminal 2000. Asshown in FIG. 31, the IoT terminal 2000 includes a memory 2001, aprocessor 2002, a sensor 2003, and a communications interface 2004.

The memory 2001 is configured to store program code executed by theprocessor 2002.

The processor 2002 is configured to invoke a program stored in thememory 2001 to control the sensor 2003 to obtain a downlink IoT framefrom a downlink received signal by using the communications interface2004, and process the downlink IoT frame to obtain downlink data betweena network side device and the IoT terminal 2000.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the downlink receivedsignal includes a downlink data frame sent by the network side device.The downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, anda data field. The legacy preamble and the HEW preamble are used forcommunication between the network side device and a station STA, and asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in afrequency domain includes at least one RU. The at least one RU is usedto send a downlink IoT frame, and the downlink IoT frame includes an IoTpreamble and an IoT data field. The IoT preamble is used to transmitphysical layer control information of the downlink IoT frame, and theIoT data field is used to transmit downlink data between the networkside device and the IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 2002 isfurther configured to invoke the program stored in the memory 2001, soas to implement functions of the IoT terminal 200 provided in thisembodiment of the present disclosure, and implement the second IoTcommunication method provided in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. For specific functions implemented by the processor 2002,refer to related description in the second IoT communication method andthe IoT terminal 200 in the embodiments of the present disclosure.Details are not described herein again.

According to the IoT terminal 200 and the IoT terminal 2000 provided inthis embodiment of the present disclosure, the received IoT downlinksignal includes the downlink data frame sent by the network side device,and frequency division multiplexing is performed on the downlink IoTframe in the downlink data frame and a data field of an 802.11ax dataframe, so that the IoT terminal can be scheduled and coordinated by thenetwork side device, thereby reducing an interference risk in IoTtransmission. In a process of transmitting the downlink data frame, theSTA parses a legacy preamble and a HEW preamble to obtain informationabout timing synchronization, frequency synchronization, and channelestimation. The IoT terminal parses a preamble part of the downlink IoTframe to obtain information about timing synchronization, frequencysynchronization, and channel estimation performed by the IoT terminal,without a need to parse a preamble part in 802.11ax, so that the IoTterminal and the STA do not interfere with each other in a process ofperforming frequency division on and sharing a channel resource in802.11ax. In the foregoing manner, the IoT terminal does not need tosupport a high bandwidth of 20/40/80 MHz, and a narrow-band IoT terminalwith a constrained bandwidth is effectively supported, thereby meeting arequirement of low complexity and low power consumption of the IoTdevice.

Based on the third IoT communication method provided in the embodimentsof the present disclosure, an embodiment of the present disclosureprovides an IoT terminal 300. As shown in FIG. 32, the IoT terminal 300provided in this embodiment of the present disclosure includes areceiving unit 301 and a sending unit 302.

The receiving unit 301 is configured to receive an uplink transmissionscheduling request sent by a network side device, where the uplinktransmission scheduling request is used to schedule the IoT terminal 300to send an uplink IoT frame, the uplink IoT frame is located in a datafield of an uplink data frame, a subcarrier resource that iscorresponding to the data field of the uplink data frame in a frequencydomain includes at least one resource unit RU, and the at least one RUis used to send the uplink IoT frame.

The sending unit 302 is configured to send the uplink IoT frameaccording to the uplink transmission scheduling request received by thereceiving unit 301.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink IoT frameincludes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, the IoT preamble is usedto transmit physical layer control information of the uplink IoT frame,and the IoT data field is used to transmit uplink data between thenetwork side device and the IoT terminal 300.

Specifically, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the sendingunit 302 specifically sends the uplink IoT frame in the followingmanner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard subcarriers; using a specified quantity of subcarriers in amiddle location of the RU as direct current subcarriers; and sending theuplink IoT frame to the network side device on a subcarrier, included inthe RU, other than the guard subcarrier and the direct currentsubcarrier.

In an implementation provided in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the sending unit 302 specifically sends the uplink IoT frameby using the RU in the following manner:

performing coding and modulation on the uplink data between the networkside device and the IoT terminal 300 to obtain an IoT uplink modulationsymbol, and mapping the IoT uplink modulation symbol to a subcarrierincluded in the RU; performing IFFT and downsampling on a frequencydomain signal that includes a subcarrier corresponding to the RU, andadding a cyclic prefix to obtain a first IoT uplink baseband signal; andsending the first IoT uplink baseband signal by using an uplink transmitchannel, where a carrier frequency of the uplink transmit channel isf₀+f_(r), where f₀ is a carrier frequency of a channel for transmittingthe uplink data frame in which the RU is located, and f_(r) is afrequency difference between a center frequency of the second RU and azero frequency.

In another implementation of the present disclosure, the sending unit302 specifically sends the uplink IoT frame in the following manner:

using a specified quantity of subcarriers in two edge locations of theRU as guard subcarriers; and sending the uplink IoT frame to the networkside device in a single carrier manner on a frequency band correspondingto a subcarrier, included in the second RU, other than the guardsubcarrier.

Specifically, the sending unit 302 specifically sends the uplink IoTframe in a single carrier manner in the following manner:

performing coding and modulation on the uplink data between the networkside device and the IoT terminal 300, and adding a cyclic prefix CP togenerate an IoT uplink single carrier symbol; performing waveformshaping filtering on the IoT uplink single carrier symbol to obtain asecond IoT uplink baseband signal; and sending the second IoT uplinkbaseband signal by using an uplink transmit channel, where a carrierfrequency of the uplink transmit channel is f₀+f_(r), where f₀ is acarrier frequency of a channel for transmitting the uplink data frame inwhich the RU is located, and f_(r) is a frequency difference between acenter frequency of the RU and a zero frequency.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoT uplinksingle carrier symbol and an OFDM symbol of a WLAN uplink basebandsignal sent by the STA use CPs of a same length, and a length of the IoTuplink single carrier symbol is the same as a length of the OFDM symbolof the WLAN uplink baseband signal sent by the STA.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure,the IoT uplink single carrier symbol includes K modulation symbols, anda period of each modulation symbol is T1=T0/K; where

K is a positive integer that does not exceed a quantity of subcarriersincluded in the RU, T₁ is the period of each modulation symbol, and T₀is the length of the OFDM symbol of the WLAN uplink baseband signal sentby the STA.

It should be further noted that, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the physical layer control information that is of the uplinkIoT frame and that is transmitted by the IoT preamble may include one orany combination of the following sequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the network side device to obtaintiming synchronization and frequency synchronization of the uplink IoTframe; or

a training sequence used by the network side device to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the uplink IoT frame.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the IoT datafield may include at least one subframe. The IoT data field includesuplink data of at least two IoT terminals 300. Uplink data of each IoTterminal 300 occupies at least one subframe; or uplink data of each IoTterminal 300 occupies at least one timeslot of at least one subframe; oruplink data of each IoT terminal 300 occupies at least one subframe andat least one timeslot of the at least one subframe.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplinktransmission scheduling request may be sent by using a downlink dataframe sent by the network side device. The downlink data frame includesa legacy preamble, a high efficiency wireless local area network HEWpreamble, and a data field, and a subcarrier resource that iscorresponding to the data field of the downlink data frame in thefrequency domain includes at least one RU that is used to send theuplink transmission scheduling request.

Based on the third IoT communication method and the IoT terminal 300provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, this embodimentof the present disclosure further provides an IoT terminal 3000. Asshown in FIG. 33, the IoT terminal 3000 includes a memory 3001, aprocessor 3002, a receiver 3003, and a transmitter 3004.

The memory 3001 is configured to store program code executed by theprocessor 3002.

The processor 3002 is configured to invoke a program stored in thememory 3001 to receive, by using the receiver 3003, an uplinktransmission scheduling request sent by a network side device, and sendan uplink IoT frame by using the transmitter 3004 according to theuplink transmission scheduling request.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink transmissionscheduling request is used to schedule the IoT terminal 3000 to send theuplink IoT frame, the uplink IoT frame is located in a data field of anuplink data frame, a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to thedata field of the uplink data frame in a frequency domain includes atleast one RU, and the at least one RU is used to send the uplink IoTframe.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink IoT frame sentby the IoT terminal 3000 includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field.The uplink IoT frame includes the IoT preamble and the IoT data field.The IoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control informationof the uplink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmituplink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal 3000.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 3002 isfurther configured to invoke the program stored in the memory 3001, soas to implement functions of the IoT terminal 300 provided in thisembodiment of the present disclosure, and implement the third IoTcommunication method provided in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. For specific functions implemented by the processor 3002,refer to related description in the third IoT communication method andthe IoT terminal 300 in the embodiments of the present disclosure.Details are not described herein again.

According to the IoT terminal 300 and the IoT terminal 3000 provided inthis embodiment of the present disclosure, the sent uplink IoT frame islocated in the data field of the uplink data frame, the subcarrierresource that is corresponding to the data field of the uplink dataframe in the frequency domain includes the at least one RU, and the atleast one RU is used to send the uplink IoT frame. In this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, in the uplink data frame, the IoT terminal andthe STA perform frequency division multiplexing on a data field of an802.11ax data frame, so that the IoT terminal can be scheduled andcoordinated by the network side device, thereby reducing an interferencerisk in IoT transmission. In a process of transmitting the uplink dataframe, the IoT terminal needs to send only a narrow-band uplink IoTframe. The IoT terminal and the STA perform frequency divisionmultiplexing on a channel resource in 802.11ax, and do not interferewith each other. In the foregoing manner, the IoT terminal does not needto support a high bandwidth of 20/40/80 MHz, and a narrow-band IoTterminal with a constrained bandwidth is effectively supported, therebymeeting a requirement of low complexity and low power consumption of theIoT device.

Based on the fourth IoT communication method provided in the embodimentsof the present disclosure, an embodiment of the present disclosureprovides a network side device 400. As shown in FIG. 34, the networkside device 400 provided in this embodiment of the present disclosureincludes a sending unit 401 and an obtaining unit 402.

The sending unit 401 is configured to send an uplink transmissionscheduling request to an IoT terminal, where the uplink transmissionscheduling request is used to schedule the IoT terminal to send anuplink IoT frame.

The obtaining unit 402 is configured to obtain the uplink IoT frame sentby the IoT terminal according to the uplink transmission schedulingrequest sent by the sending unit 401.

The uplink IoT frame is located in a data field of an uplink data frame,a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of theuplink data frame in a frequency domain includes at least one resourceunit RU, and the at least one RU is used to send the uplink IoT frame.The uplink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble and an IoT data field, theIoT preamble is used to transmit physical layer control information ofthe uplink IoT frame, and the IoT data field is used to transmit uplinkdata between the network side device 400 and the IoT terminal.

In an implementation of this embodiment of the present disclosure, theobtaining unit 402 specifically obtains, in the following manner, theuplink IoT frame sent by the IoT terminal according to the uplinktransmission scheduling request:

obtaining an uplink received signal, where the uplink received signalincludes the uplink IoT frame sent by the IoT terminal; removing acyclic prefix CP from the uplink received signal, and performing FFT toobtain a frequency domain received signal; obtaining a signal on asubcarrier corresponding to the RU from the frequency domain receivedsignal to obtain an IoT frequency domain signal; and performingfrequency domain equalization, IFFT, and demodulation and decoding onthe IoT frequency domain signal to obtain the uplink data between thenetwork side device and the IoT terminal.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the sending unit 401specifically sends the uplink transmission scheduling request to the IoTterminal in the following manner:

sending the uplink transmission scheduling request by using a downlinkdata frame. The downlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a highefficiency wireless local area network HEW preamble, and a data field,and a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field of thedownlink data frame in the frequency domain includes at least one RUthat is used to send the uplink transmission scheduling request.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present disclosure,the physical layer control information that is of the uplink IoT frameand that is transmitted by the IoT preamble may include one or anycombination of the following sequences:

a synchronization sequence used by the network side device to obtaintiming synchronization and frequency synchronization of the uplink IoTframe; or

a training sequence used by the network side device to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the uplink IoT frame.

Based on the fourth IoT communication method and the network side device400 provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, thisembodiment of the present disclosure further provides a network sidedevice 400. As shown in FIG. 35, the network side device 4000 includes amemory 4001, a processor 4002, and a transceiver 4003.

The memory 4001 is configured to store program code executed by theprocessor 4002.

The processor 4002 is configured to invoke a program stored in thememory 4001 to send an uplink transmission scheduling request to an IoTterminal by using the transceiver 4003, and obtain an uplink IoT framesent by the IoT terminal according to the uplink transmission schedulingrequest.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink transmissionscheduling request may be sent by using a downlink data frame. Thedownlink data frame includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and adata field. The legacy preamble and the HEW preamble are used forcommunication between the network side device and a station STA, and asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in thefrequency domain includes at least one RU that is used to send theuplink transmission scheduling request.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink IoT frame islocated in a data field of an uplink data frame, a subcarrier resourcethat is corresponding to the data field of the uplink data frame in thefrequency domain includes at least one RU, and the at least one RU isused to send the uplink IoT frame.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 4002 isfurther configured to invoke the program stored in the memory 4001, soas to implement functions of the network side device 400 provided inthis embodiment of the present disclosure, and implement the fourth IoTcommunication method provided in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. For specific functions implemented by the processor 4002,refer to related description in the fourth IoT communication method andthe network side device 400 in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Details are not described herein again.

According to the network side device 400 and the network side device4000 provided in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplinkscheduling request is sent to the IoT terminal by using the downlinkdata frame, and frequency division multiplexing is performed on thedownlink IoT frame in the downlink data frame and a data field of an802.11ax data frame, so that the network side device 400 or the networkside device 4000 can schedule and coordinate the IoT terminal, therebyreducing an interference risk in IoT transmission. The network sidedevice 400 or the network side device 4000 receives the uplink dataframe sent by the IoT terminal according to the uplink transmissionscheduling request. The uplink data frame includes a legacy preamble, aHEW preamble, and a data field, and the data field includes the RU thatis used to transmit the uplink data between the IoT terminal and thenetwork side device. Therefore, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the IoT terminal needs to send only a narrow-band uplink IoTframe. The IoT terminal and the STA perform frequency divisionmultiplexing on a channel resource in 802.11ax, and do not interferewith each other. In the foregoing manner, the IoT terminal does not needto support a high bandwidth of 20/40/80 MHz, and a narrow-band IoTterminal with a constrained bandwidth is effectively supported, therebymeeting a requirement of low complexity and low power consumption of theIoT device.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides acommunications system 500. As shown in FIG. 36, the communicationssystem 500 includes a network side device 501, a STA 502, and an IoTterminal 503.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the network side device501 sends a downlink data frame, and the downlink data frame includes alegacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and a data field. The legacy preambleand the HEW preamble are used for communication between the network sidedevice 501 and the STA 502. A subcarrier resource that is correspondingto the data field in a frequency domain includes a first RU and a secondRU. The first RU is used to send a downlink IoT frame to the IoTterminal 503, where the downlink IoT frame includes an IoT preamble andan IoT data field, the IoT preamble is used to transmit physical layercontrol information of the downlink IoT frame, and the IoT data field isused to transmit downlink data between the network side device 501 andthe IoT terminal 503. The second RU is used to send downlink databetween the network side device 501 and the STA 502 to the STA 502.

The STA 502 parses the legacy preamble and the HEW preamble by using thedownlink data frame to obtain information about timing synchronization,frequency synchronization, channel estimation, or the like performed bythe STA 502, and obtains the downlink data between the network sidedevice 501 and the STA 502 by using the second RU in the data field.

The IoT terminal 503 parses the IoT preamble by using the downlink dataframe to obtain fields of timing synchronization, frequencysynchronization and channel estimation performed by the IoT terminal503, and obtains, by using the first RU in the data field, the downlinkdata sent by the network side device 501.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the network side device501 may further send an uplink transmission scheduling request to theIoT terminal 503, and schedule the IoT terminal 503 to send uplink data.In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the network side device501 receives uplink data by using an uplink data frame, where the uplinkdata frame includes a legacy preamble, a HEW preamble, and a data field.The legacy preamble and the HEW preamble are used for communicationbetween the network side device 501 and the station STA 502. Asubcarrier resource that is corresponding to the data field in thefrequency domain includes a third RU, and the third RU is used totransmit the uplink data between the network side device 501 and the IoTterminal 503.

It should be noted that, the memory related to the embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be a read-only memory (ROM) or a random accessmemory (RAM), or may be an electrically erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EEPROM), a disk storage medium or other disk storage, or anyother medium that can be used to carry or store expected program code ina command or data structure form and can be accessed by a computer.However, the memory is not limited thereto. For example, the memory maybe a combination of the foregoing memories.

The processor related to the embodiments of the present disclosure maybe a general-purpose central processing unit. The processor uses variousinterfaces and lines to connect all parts of the whole device, and byrunning or executing an instruction stored in the memory and invokingdata stored in the memory, executes various functions of a correspondingdevice, and processes data, so as to perform overall monitoring on thecorresponding device. Optionally, the processor may include one or moreprocessing units. Preferably, the processor may be integrated with anapplication processor and a modem processor. The application processormainly processes an operating system, a user interface, an applicationprogram, and the like; and the modem processor mainly processes radiocommunication. It can be understood that, the modem processor may not beintegrated into the processor.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor and thememory may be implemented in a single chip.

The network side device 501 included in the communications system 500provided in this embodiment of the present disclosure may be the networkside device 100, the network side device 1000, the network side device400, or the network side device 4000 in the foregoing embodiment, andcan implement corresponding functions. Details are not described againin this embodiment of the present disclosure.

The IoT terminal included in the communications system 500 provided inthis embodiment of the present disclosure may be the IoT terminal 200,the IoT terminal 2000, the IoT terminal 300, or the IoT terminal 3000 inthe foregoing embodiment, and can implement corresponding functions.Details are not described again in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

According to the communications system provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, a subcarrier resource that is corresponding to adata field of a WLAN data frame in a frequency domain includes an RUthat is used to transmit downlink data or uplink data between thenetwork side device and the IoT terminal, and an RU that is used totransmit downlink data or uplink data between the network side deviceand the STA, so that the IoT terminal and the STA can share a data framein a WLAN network for data sending or receiving, and further, a networkside device in the WLAN can schedule the IoT terminal, thereby reducinga conflict risk in an IoT communication process.

Obviously, a person skilled in the art can make various modificationsand variations to the present disclosure without departing from thescope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is intended tocover these modifications and variations provided that they fall withinthe scope of protection defined by the following claims and theirequivalent technologies.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or a partof the steps in each of the foregoing method of the embodiments may beimplemented by a program instructing a processor. The foregoing programmay be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The storage mediummay be a non-transitory medium, such as a random-access memory,read-only memory, a flash memory, a hard disk, a solid state drive, amagnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical disc, or any combinationthereof.

The present disclosure is described with reference to the flowchartsand/or block diagrams of the method and the device according to theembodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood thatcomputer program instructions may be used to implement each process oreach block in the flowcharts and the block diagrams and a combination ofa process and a block in the flowcharts and the block diagrams. Thesecomputer program instructions may be provided for a general-purposecomputer, a dedicated computer, an embedded processor, or a processor ofany other programmable data processing device to generate a machine, sothat the instructions executed by a computer or a processor of any otherprogrammable data processing device generate an apparatus forimplementing a specific function in one or more processes in theflowcharts and in one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

The foregoing descriptions are merely example implementations of thepresent disclosure, but are not intended to limit the protection scopeof the present disclosure. Any variation or replacement readily figuredout by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosedin the present disclosure shall fall within the protection scope of thepresent disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the presentdisclosure shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

1. An Internet of Things (IoT) communication apparatus, comprising aprocessor and a computer readable storage medium storing instructions,which when executed by the processor, instruct the apparatus to:generate a downlink data frame; and transmit the downlink data frame toat least one terminal device, and the at least one terminal devicecomprises an IoT terminal, wherein the downlink data frame comprises apreamble and a data field, wherein subcarrier resources corresponding tothe data field in a frequency domain comprise at least one resource unit(RU) that carries a downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal, and thedownlink IoT frame comprises an IoT preamble for transmitting physicallayer control information of the downlink IoT frame and an IoT datafield for transmitting downlink data between the apparatus and the IoTterminal.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the at leastone terminal device further comprises a station (STA); the subcarrierresources corresponding to the data field further comprise at least oneother RU carrying downlink data between the apparatus and the STA,wherein the at least one other RU is different from the at least one RU.3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions furtherinstruct the apparatus to: use a first specified quantity of subcarriersin two edge locations of the at least one RU as guard subcarriers; use asecond specified quantity of subcarriers in a middle location of the atleast one RU as direct current subcarriers; and transmit the downlinkIoT frame to the IoT terminal by using one or more subcarriers comprisedin the at least one RU other than the guard subcarriers and the directcurrent subcarriers.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theinstructions further instruct the apparatus to: use a specified quantityof subcarriers in two edge locations of the at least one RU as guardsubcarriers; and transmit the downlink IoT frame to the IoT terminal ina single carrier manner on a frequency band corresponding to asubcarrier comprised in the RU, other than the guard subcarriers.
 5. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein an IoT downlink single carriersymbol and an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbolof a wireless local area network (WLAN) downlink baseband signal usecyclic prefixes (CPs) of a same length, and a length of the IoT downlinksingle carrier symbol is the same as a length of the OFDM symbol of theWLAN downlink baseband signal.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the RU that is used to send a downlink IoT frame includes atleast one basic RU, the instructions further instruct the apparatus to:send channel indication information in the at least one basic RU,wherein the channel indication information is used to indicate that theIoT terminal is handed over from the at least one basic RU to an RU thatis used to send a downlink IoT frame other than the basic RU.
 7. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the physical layer controlinformation includes one or any combination of the following sequences:a synchronization sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain timingsynchronization and frequency synchronization of the downlink IoT frame;or a training sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the downlink IoT frame.
 8. AnInternet of Things (IoT) apparatus, comprising a processor and acomputer readable storage medium storing instructions, which whenexecuted by the processor, instruct the apparatus to: receive a downlinksignal sent by a network side device; and acquire a downlink data framefrom the received downlink signal, wherein the downlink data framecomprises a preamble and a data field, and wherein subcarrier resourcescorresponding to the data field in a frequency domain comprise at leastone resource unit (RU) carrying a downlink IoT frame comprising an IoTpreamble and an IoT data field, wherein the IoT preamble carriesphysical layer control information of the downlink IoT frame and the IoTdata field carries downlink data between the network side device and theIoT terminal, and process the downlink IoT frame to obtain the downlinkdata between the network side device and the apparatus.
 9. The apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein: a bandwidth of a receive channel of theapparatus does not exceed a bandwidth of the at least one RU; and acarrier frequency used by the receive channel of the apparatus isf₀+f_(r), wherein f₀ is a carrier frequency of the downlink IoT frame,and f_(r) is a frequency difference between a center frequency of the RUand a zero frequency.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 8, whereinthe instructions, further instruct the apparatus to: remove a cyclicprefix (CP) from each orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)symbol of the downlink IoT frame, and perform upsampling and fastFourier transformation (FFT) to obtain an IoT modulation signal that ismapped to a subcarrier comprised in the RU; and perform demodulation anddecoding on the IoT modulation signal to obtain the downlink databetween the network side device and the apparatus.
 11. The apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein the instructions, further instruct theapparatus to: remove a cyclic prefix (CP) from each single carriersymbol of the downlink IoT frame, and perform frequency domainequalization to obtain an IoT modulation signal that is mapped to afrequency band corresponding to the RU; and perform demodulation anddecoding on the IoT modulation signal to obtain the downlink databetween the network side device and the apparatus.
 12. The apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein the RU that is used to send a downlink IoTframe includes at least one basic RU, the instructions further instructthe apparatus to: receive channel indication information in the at leastone basic RU, wherein the channel indication information is used toindicate that the apparatus is handed over from the at least one basicRU to an RU that is used to send a downlink IoT frame other than thebasic RU.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the physicallayer control information within the IoT preamble comprises one or anycombination of the following sequences: a synchronization sequence usedby the IoT terminal to obtain timing synchronization and frequencysynchronization of the downlink IoT frame; or a training sequence usedby the IoT terminal to obtain channel estimation required fordemodulating the downlink IoT frame.
 14. A non-transitory computerreadable storage medium storing instructions for execution by aprocessor of an IoT terminal, which when executed by the processor ofthe IoT terminal, causing the processor of the IoT terminal to performoperations, the operations including: receiving a downlink signal sentby a network side device; acquiring a downlink data frame from thereceived downlink signal, wherein the downlink data frame comprises apreamble and a data field, and wherein subcarrier resourcescorresponding to the data field in a frequency domain comprise at leastone resource unit (RU) carrying a downlink IoT frame comprising an IoTpreamble and an IoT data field, wherein the IoT preamble carriesphysical layer control information of the downlink IoT frame and the IoTdata field carries downlink data between the network side device and theIoT terminal; and processing the downlink IoT frame to obtain thedownlink data between the network side device and the IoT terminal. 15.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim14, wherein: a bandwidth of a receive channel of the IoT terminal doesnot exceed a bandwidth of the at least one RU; and a carrier frequencyused by the receive channel of the IoT terminal is f₀+f_(r), wherein f₀is a carrier frequency of the downlink IoT frame, and f_(r) is afrequency difference between a center frequency of the RU and a zerofrequency.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumaccording to claim 14, wherein processing the downlink IoT frame toobtain the downlink data between the network side device and the IoTterminal comprises: removing, a cyclic prefix (CP) from each orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of the downlink IoT frame,and performing upsampling and fast Fourier transformation (FFT) toobtain an IoT modulation signal that is mapped to a subcarrier comprisedin the at least one RU; and performing, demodulation and decoding on theIoT modulation signal to obtain the downlink data between the networkside device and the IoT terminal.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium according to claim 14, whereinprocessing, the downlink IoT frame to obtain the downlink data betweenthe network side device and the IoT terminal comprises: removing acyclic prefix (CP) from each single carrier symbol of the downlink IoTframe, and performing frequency domain equalization to obtain an IoTmodulation signal that is mapped to a frequency band corresponding tothe at least one RU; and performing demodulation and decoding on the IoTmodulation signal to obtain the downlink data between the network sidedevice and the IoT terminal.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium according to claim 14, wherein the RU that is used tosend a downlink IoT frame includes at least one basic RU, wherein theoperations further comprise: sending channel indication information inthe basic RU, where the channel indication information is used toindicate that the IoT terminal is handed over from the basic RU to an RUthat is used to send a downlink IoT frame other than the basic RU. 19.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim14, wherein the physical layer control information within the IoTpreamble comprises one or any combination of the following sequences: asynchronization sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain timingsynchronization and frequency synchronization of the downlink IoT frame;or a training sequence used by the IoT terminal to obtain channelestimation required for demodulating the downlink IoT frame.